Absurdism
by DarkNymfa
Summary: (Absurdism: doctrine that we live in an irrational universe.) Jazz is 14 years old, has no friends, and, oh yeah, she has ghost powers. And now, mere months after the accident that made her half-ghost, she meets someone like her.
1. Mirror Image

And so a new multi-chapter adventure starts! Absurdism is currently planned to be 16 chapters long, but I'm not done writing it yet so stuff might get shifted around. Probably not, though. First chapter is a little short, but they'll ramp up in length afterwards. The story is mostly soft and stuff, but there are occasional bouts of emotions so, y'know, hurt/comfort.

The fic will mostly follow the canon DP timeline (or the episodes, at least), although the first two chapters are mostly for setting up. As of the start of the story, only episode 1 (Mystery Meat) and 2 (Parental Bonding) have taken place. Really, everything should be explained in the fic, but I like covering my bases.

Updates will be every week on Saturday. I'm still writing the story, but I'm also a few chapters ahead, so I should have enough buffer to actually make it through. Maybe.

* * *

Jazz rolled her shoulders, shifting her backpack to lie more comfortably on her back. It resettled easily, and she kept up the pace as she walked back home. Sure, she _could_ have asked Danny to drive her, but… well, she liked walking! The fresh air was good for a growing youth like her.

That, and Danny's driving was either far too careful, or not nearly careful enough. And, quite frankly, she wasn't very big on _either_ of those.

So. She walked. It wasn't like the school was that far from home anyway.

If she trusted her new powers a little more, she might consider flying to school instead. It would probably be faster, which would leave her with more time for studying. But, then, there was also the possibility of people seeing her, causing a ruckus. So, maybe not.

Whatever. For the moment it didn't matter anyway. She could barely fly in her ghost form, and not at all in her human form. Well, not on command, at least. Only the occasional bout of accidental floating, although luckily that didn't happen a lot. Not nearly as much as the partial invisibility or intangibility, at least.

If only there was some sort of guidance for this! She had gone through all books she could find, her parents' entire ghost library, but she hadn't been able to find even the slightest hint of this happening before. A human with ghost powers, a ghost/human hybrid… nothing. Absolutely completely _nothing_!

Hell, she had even tried the _internet_. Even if the online sources tended to be sketchier, there had to be _something_, right?

But, no. She hadn't been able to find anything.

So she was forced to figure out herself. Alone.

Sure, she _could_ tell her parents. But… But what if they didn't believe her? What if they thought she was a ghost playing pretend?

Jazz knew her parents cared about her, about their family, but… she also knew how little they thought of ghosts.

As long as it wasn't killing her, and it didn't seem to be, did she _really_ have to tell them? She was smart, wasn't she? One of the cleverest in the school, despite being only 14. She was sure she could figure this out herself, somehow.

Besides, if she didn't know much about ghosts, she was certain that her parents didn't, either. They sure _acted_ like they knew a lot, but Jazz was fairly sure it was based on nothing. For all their bluster, her parents hadn't even _seen_ a ghost.

And she? Well, she most definitely had. Even if the few animal-like ghosts hadn't been anything too spectacular, she doubted her parents' claims about them not being able to feel pain. The screeches of the Ectopi when she punched them sure _sounded_ genuine.

Not to mention the two humanoid ghosts Jazz had encountered so far. Even if both seemed a little more inclined to pick fights that humans, that didn't mean they were _malevolent_. They just… They just worked a little strangely! They _wanted_ to do good things, but their methods were a little strange. That was okay!

Like the Lunch Lady, she just wanted people to eat well! And even if she had lashed out at Jazz, and at the human lunch ladies, she had calmed down well enough. Had listened to Jazz when she explained the intricacies of a healthy diet, and when Jazz promised that she would talk the school into a more varied menu, the ghost had agreed to hold off and watch.

So Jazz went and talked the school into a more varied menu. Which, really, someone should've done earlier. Even if she agreed with Sam about vegan options, you can't just _force_ that on people. Not everyone can live on a vegan diet, after all!

It took a bit of work, but thankfully Jazz had already found herself the teacher's pet, so she managed to convince them. The menu was changed, the Lunch Lady calmed down, and then she went back to the Ghost Zone.

Which was, of course, the moment Jazz had realized that the Portal was _always open_. It would, constantly and without ever stopping, let through any ghost who wished to enter Amity Park.

And Jazz seemed to be the only person who cared. Her parents didn't care, or didn't realize how many ghosts might wish to pass through (or liked the challenge, maybe?), and her brother was still somewhat skeptical on the topic of ghosts being real.

The rest of the town? No one knew about the Portal. Not about what it could truly do, what power it held. What kind of danger they were in.

She couldn't let that slide. _She_ was the one who had turned the Portal on, after all. _She_ was responsible.

So _she_ had to stop any dangerous ghosts that came through. Ghosts like the animals that roamed the streets, now, and ghosts like the Lunch Lady.

And ghosts like Dora, who had come into the lab as a giant roaring dragon, but who had thankfully shrunk down once she had removed the necklace.

Dora, who had promised she would stay in the Zone, as long as Jazz gave her the necklace back.

Jazz' core hummed in her chest, suddenly, and she paused. Cold energy gathered in her lungs, then puffed out as a visible cloud of ectoplasmically-tainted air on her next breath.

It was her ghost sense, she knew. But where? How?

Looking around, she couldn't see anything that stood out. She didn't have much experience with ghosts, she had to admit, but still.

Every ghost she had encountered, the humanoid and the animals, no matter their intelligence, they all shared a single behavioral trait. They all sought out civilization. The human ones, like Lunch Lady and Dora, had both come to Amity Park with a goal in mind. And the lesser ones, they all sought to terrorize people, all targeted the human population of Amity.

So why was this one hidden somewhere were she couldn't see it?

Realization clicked, and she looked up.

Yes, there it was. So high up in the air that she could barely see it, a small blurry dot of black and white. Its glow hidden against the bright backdrop of the sky.

She eyed it pensively. It didn't seem out for trouble, true, but that didn't mean anything. Lunch Lady hadn't either, but she still would've caused quite a bit of chaos if she'd been left to her own devices.

Even if this one just hung there in the sky… Jazz had taken responsibility for all ghosts in the city, and that would include this one.

Although she would admit, in the privacy of her own mind, that part of that reluctance might come from how high up the ghost was. So sue her! She didn't even trust her flight to carry her from home to school, let alone go that high up! If it failed, if she was forced back to human form, she would surely die! She was just fourteen! She didn't want to die, especially in a way so _grizzly_.

So she heaved out a sigh. As much as she didn't want to, she _had_ to go check it out.

Taking her eyes off of the distant ghost, she looked around. Ah, there! An empty alley off of this already quiet street. Perfect!

She ducked out of sight, half-crouched behind a dumpster to make sure no one saw her. Then she tapped into the ball of cold energy in her chest, which thrilled in response. It was still foreign to her, unusual and strange and-

But she had practiced with it, regardless. If these powers would be part of her life, now, she had to be in control of them. And if she hadn't quite nailed that yet, at least she held enough control to shift to ghost form without too much hassle.

Blue-white energy crackled to life around her. Darts of light and electricity, spreading into a single ring around her waist. Then, splitting into two separate rings, flew past her body. Lit up the alley she was in.

Replaced her ordinary clothes with a dark purple jumpsuit, so much like her parents' it was a little embarrassing. Her hands, and most of her arms, were now covered with long white gloves, and her neat shoes were replaced by sturdy white boots. An equally white belt around her waist, a hefty bag attached to one side, balanced by a Fenton Thermos on the other side.

The upward ring caught her hair, carrying it upwards into a ponytail. Dyed it purple, vibrant and unearthly, as its ends started flickering like fire.

As the rings faded, Jazz blinked her even sharper eyes as she refocused. Her senses had already gotten enhanced by the Accident, but they grew even better when she shifted into her ghost form.

Glass crunched under her boot, and she glanced downward, automatically. A ghost met her eyes, warm gold staring back at her, its glow brightening in shock.

Then she laughed, the startle wearing off, and her mirror image did the same. Oh, how embarrassing. At least no one saw that.

She focused her enhanced vision on the ghost, worried that it had left, but no. It remained in place, hovering high above Amity Park. Even now, she could barely make them out. Humanoid, she thought, and dressed primarily in black. The ends of their limbs were white, including what she assumed was their head. How match-y.

Still, she had stalled as much as she could. Now the only thing left was… to go up there. And, hopefully, talk.

Grasping onto her confidence, she pushed off. Like a jump, except gravity wouldn't—_couldn't—_drag her down. Just a continuous path upwards.

Her flight was a little shaky at first, but she managed to smooth it out a little. She was still climbing slowly, but that was better than rushing and losing control. She just had to get up to the ghost, but at least they didn't seem to have noticed her. Didn't seem to be trying to get away.

At this point, she was willing to take whatever she would get, really.

Now that she was finally getting closer, she could make him out properly. Because he certainly seemed to be a boy. A teenager at most, barely any older than her brother. The black she'd seen was just his outfit. He wore a jumpsuit in all black, of similar make to her parents'. And here she was, thinking they were the only ones who would wear such stuff.

Although, she supposed she was, as well. Maybe he'd gone and died wearing one of those for protection, too. Even if she wasn't sure she counted, herself. She hadn't _died_, after all. Just become… half-ghost? A human/ghost hybrid? Something along those lines.

Much like her own jumpsuit, the ghost wore white gloves, white boots, and a white belt. Unlike her, however, he wasn't carrying a Thermos. Not that she had expected him to, of course! But it was kind of funny to see a ghost wearing something so similar to her!

Before she knew it she was approaching him, and he still hadn't noticed her. His back was turned to him, his snow-white hair heavily windblown and messy.

His build was lean, and he looked a little twiggy, but there was no denying the muscle definition underneath his jumpsuit. She hadn't seem any such muscle on the Lunch Lady or Dora, but then, neither of them wore such tight clothing.

If this ghost was human, Jazz was sure he could carry a mean punch. She might not know enough about ghosts to know if that carried over, but she didn't feel like risking it. Even beyond his lean muscle, he might possess all kinds of ghostly powers.

Finally she drew even with the ghost, hovering right behind him. He still hadn't noticed her. Hm, well. She _was_ hoping to just talk, right?

She cleared her throat, then said, "Hey, what's up?"

The ghost visibly started, flipping over his own feet in an attempt to turn to face her. He hung upside down, blinking wide green eyes at her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to startle you," she assured him, raising her hands placatingly.

He blinked once more, then slowly started to rotate upright again. "It's… okay," he said, slowly, almost hesitantly. "I just wasn't… expecting anyone to be here."

Now that he was finally angled properly, she could make out his face. He was definitely a teenager, losing the softness of his youth. If she had to guess, he would've been sixteen, like her older brother Danny.

But that wasn't the only thing about his appearance that reminded her of Danny.

There was… something about his face. About his facial features, the shapes and the angles and the proportions. It was almost eerie, really, how much this ghost looked like her brother. If she just imagined his hair black and his eyes blue, he might as well _be_ Danny.

He was squinting at her, too. Eyes shifting like he was studying her.

She didn't know how long they hung there in silence. Looking at each other in silence.

But she _did_ know that it was the other ghost who broke it. He spoke up, haltingly, voice questioning.

"Jazz?"

And that just confirmed it for her, really. Because she hadn't told anyone her name. The Lunch Lady and Dora both only knew her as Specter, her (improvised) alias for her ghost form. She hadn't wanted to tell them her real name, and even if Specter was a bit of a stupid name, well. She couldn't go back now.

So she was Specter to all ghosts, and 'ghost girl' or 'ghost gal' to the few humans that knew of her existence.

In front of her, the ghost of her brother frowned, his white brows drawn together.

"Danny?" she finally responded, thrown off. "How are you- What's going on?!"

* * *

A select few of you might recognize this chapter, because I streamed it! I was gonna make that a weekly thing, but then I... didn't. haha, whoops. Alternate title options for this chapter were: "Mirror Mirror (On The Wall)" and "Synonym".

To celebrate hitting 250 followers on my writing Tumblr, I'm gonna write a sequel to one of my one-shots! Which one? Well, that's up to my readers! Voting is open until the 4th, and somewhere on the 5th I'll announce the winner - the fic with the most votes! I, uh, would link to the voting form, but FFN seems to hate links, so. Go to my Tumblr (darks-ink - tumblr - com), and you should be able to find a post with the link pretty easily.


	2. Host the Ghost

"Danny?" Jazz finally responded, thrown off. It was undeniable that this was her brother in front of her, but… how was he _also_ a ghost? _She_ was the one who had had an accident with the Ghost Portal, and there was no way he could've gone through the same, since the Portal had been turned on ever since. "How are you- What's going on?!"

"You're asking me?" he muttered, shifting to a more comfortable position. Jazz felt faintly jealous of how well he took to the skies, his ease up here. She could barely float in place, and here he was, moving about like he'd been doing it for years.

"Well, yeah!" She threw out her hands, dismayed. "I've been ruining my school record chasing ghosts all day long, and now I find out you could've helped! How long have you had ghost powers anyway?"

He blinked at her, clearly stunned. Then he offered her an awkward grin, raising one hand to start rubbing the back of his neck. Oh, of course, his characteristic display of nerves. "I, uh. Look, it's… complicated."

"Complicated _how_?" Jazz huffed, crossing her arms. Danny seemed genuine, sure, but maybe she didn't know him as well as she thought. If he had been hiding ghost powers from her, for who knows how long, without her realizing…

"Okay, so, uh," Danny said, snapping her out of her thoughts. He shifted again, his legs merging together in a ghostly tail, which twitched in… irritation, maybe? She wasn't very good at reading the emotional tells of ghost tails. Not yet, at least. "Do you, uh, know about parallel universes?"

She rolled her eyes, chagrined. "You know I do, Danny. Mom and Dad talk about that kind of stuff all the time. Not to mention the Ghost Zone, which we _know_ is in a different dimension." Not that she understood why he brought it up. Unless… Unless he was implying-

"Right, right." He bit his lip, probably thinking over his words. "So, um. I'm… from another universe, I guess? I accidentally went through a Portal in the Ghost Zone and didn't try to go back because I thought this was home."

Jazz stared at him, unblinking. As she remained quiet, Danny started fidgeting more and more. Plucked at the edge of his glove, tugged on the collar of his suit, swept his tail through the air.

Finally she took mercy on him, and broke the silence. "So _my_ brother isn't half ghost?"

"Probably not." Danny shrugged, his vivid green eyes coming up to meet hers again. "I know _I_ got my powers two years ago, when I was fourteen. I'm guessing that you took my place in this universe—timeline—for whatever reason."

"I see…" She frowned at this new information. It _did_ explain why he was so casual about his powers: he'd had them for far longer than her. But still… "So did our parents finish the Portal two years earlier, or something? If you got your powers when you were fourteen, your version of me must've been like… twelve."

"Uh, no?" Danny shook his head, then quirked one eyebrow at him. "_My_ Jazz is two years older than me. She's eighteen now, but she was sixteen when I had the accident." Then his eyes widened as realization struck. "Wait, are you saying that your version of me is the _older_ sibling?"

"I mean, yeah?" She scratched her cheek, feeling increasingly thrown off by the conversation. The little experience she had with ghosts hadn't prepared her for situations like this one at all. "So, what, we just swapped places? The younger sibling becomes the half-ghost?"

He shrugged. "Guess so… Wait, so then who was down with you when you had the accident?"

"Nobody?" she answered, tone questioning. "Why, did _you_ have someone with you- No, never mind, of course you did. Sam and Tucker never would've let you do something like that without being there to watch."

"Heh, yeah." He grinned, a little sheepishly. "To be honest, they were the ones who convinced me to check out the Portal in the first place. I'm kind of surprised _you_ checked it out, to be honest."

It _had_ been pretty out of character for her, yeah, she could admit that. But… "Our- My parents were just so sad, when the Portal didn't work… Even if I didn't believe in ghosts, I just wanted to help, you know?"

He snorted, but his smile remained, soft. "Yeah, that's why _my_ Jazz took them out of the house. Wanted them to get their minds off of the failed Portal. Which is also when Sam and Tucker convinced me to show it to them, and, well. I'm sure you can guess how _that_ went."

Then his eyes widened, like he realized something. "Wait, so does _anybody_ know about you being half-ghost?"

"No?" Oh, but of course. If Sam and Tucker had been there during his accident, then of course they knew about Danny being half-ghost. They would've helped him as much as they could, with his powers and his disappearances and everything else.

Danny eyed her speculatively. His tail twitched, but she still couldn't quite link an emotion to it. She doubted it was irritation, now. "And how long have you had your powers?"

"A little over a month." She narrowed her eyes at him, puffing out her chest a little. Her core whirled in her chest, in sync with her burst of annoyance. Just because he had two years of experience _and_ friends that helped him didn't mean… whatever he was going for. "Why?"

"Assuming that everything else follows the same timeline… You've fought the Lunch Lady already?" He ignored her attempt at intimidation completely. Not entirely surprising, in hindsight. She probably wasn't terribly impressive compared to some of the ghosts he must've met.

"Well, I didn't fight her, but I did _encounter_ her, yes. And Dora as well, if that means anything to you."

He huffed out a laugh. "And you probably weren't an idiot with Dora's amulet like I was, so you only had to fight _one_ ghost dragon." Then he sobered up a little, his smile losing its humor. "But you got the Lunch Lady to leave without fighting her? That's pretty impressive."

Danny's tail split into legs again, and he took a seated position, one leg crossed over the other. Leaning forward, he placed one elbow on his upper leg. "But, sooner or later, you're gonna run into a ghost you'll need to fight."

"I've fought ghosts before!" she snapped back. Just because he had two years of experience didn't mean he could act all high and mighty! "Just because _I_ talked it out with Dora and the Lunch Lady doesn't mean I can't fight! I had to beat Dora that first time, didn't I? And all the animal ghosts, those can't be reasoned with either."

"That's… fair," he allowed, uncrossing his legs again. Instead, he started to circle around her. "But how much _control_ do you have? What kind of abilities?"

"I have _plenty_ of control!" She bristled, her hair flickering more aggressively, like licking flames. Then she released a hissing breath, forcing herself to calm down again. Just because she was fourteen didn't mean she had to _act_ like it. "And… Just the basics, I suppose. Invisibility, intangibility, flight. My ghost sense, of course."

He nodded, but his brow creased in a frown. At least he stopped circling her again, coming to a halt in front of her. "So it really _is_ right after your accident." His voice was quiet; she wasn't sure if he had intended for her to hear it.

"So now what?" she asked instead, crossing her arms. Looking at this version of her brother that, somehow, _came from a different universe_. God, that sounded crazy.

Danny bit his lip, glancing away from her. Nodded to himself, like he'd made up his mind. Turning back, he looked her right in the eyes, expression determined. "How do you feel about me training you?"

She blinked, caught off-guard by the unexpected suggestion. "I- What?"

"Well…" He shifted, suddenly looking a little awkward. "It's just- I had _some_ help figuring out my powers, and I still struggled. The only person who really could've helped was… asking for something I couldn't give him." Danny took a deep breath, looking more serious than she had ever seen her brother—or any variation of him. "But I can make sure _you_ don't have to go through that. I have two years of experience. I can help."

It was… an alluring offer, she could admit. And genuine too—she knew her brother well enough to tell.

"Shouldn't you get back to your own universe, though?"

Danny grimaced. "Eh, probably. But natural portals like the one I went through are unpredictable; I have no real way of tracking them down. The Ghost Zone is called the Infinite Realms for a reason, y'know?"

"Well, I _didn't_ know, because I haven't heard anyone call it that before." She cocked her head at him, trying to get a good read on him. It didn't quite make sense. Why _wouldn't_ he be trying his hardest to get back, no matter how hard it was? What about his own family? "But if tracking down a portal is so hard, then what _do_ you plan on doing? Isn't Amity Park in danger without you there? Or did the ghosts stop coming?"

He barked out a sudden laugh. "Oh lord, no. They're worse than ever." He grinned, widely and brightly, showing off his small fangs. "But Va- _Red_ and Danielle can take care of them. They're both very competent ghost hunters."

Making sure to memorize the names, especially the aborted first name for Red, she watched as Danny's grin fell a little, his shoulders slumping down. "As for getting home… I'm assuming that Team Phantom will be able to find me. The Booo-merang tracked me down into the future, once, so…" He shrugged.

"The future?" slipped out before she could stop herself. If their worlds seemed to be following the same line, did that mean that _she_ was going to travel to the future at some point? Dangit, now she got them distracted. She'd tried so hard to ignore the earlier names _and_ 'Team Phantom', too!

Danny's expression fell the rest of the way, his mouth going flat. "I… Yeah. Don't worry too much about it, Jazz. It'll be fine."

"Uh huh." But she would let the topic drop for now. Whatever the context was, something had happened, and it wasn't good. Her core whirred in her chest, and she grimaced. "Ah, um. Any chance we could continue this conversation on the ground?"

"Oh, of course!" Danny grew wide-eyed, then nodded. "Lead the way, I'll be right behind you."

She dove, aiming for the forest a little further away. There was still a lot she needed to discuss with Danny—_this_ Danny—and she couldn't risk bringing him to their home if her actual brother might be there.

Her landing was a little rough, as she stumbled over her own feet and transformed back to a human the moment she hit the ground, but at least she hadn't fallen. Danny came in easily, his white-booted feet touching down soundlessly.

Then bright light sparked from him, familiar white rings sweeping past him, leaving him perfectly human as well.

It was the ultimate proof that this really _was _a half-ghost version of her brother. Not that she had needed it, of course, but seeing it… Well, seeing was believing.

"Are you okay?" Danny asked, stepping closer to her with a worried expression on his face. "Sorry, I totally forgot how new you are to this stuff."

"I'm fine," she assured him, waving off his concern. "But- Team Phantom, really? Not a very creative name, is it?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny stopped trying to get closer. "It's what we decided to call ourselves, alright? We needed something better than 'Ghost Getters', which is what _my_ Jazz came up with, and Sam and Tucker figured we might as well name ourselves after me. Since I'm, y'know, the actual face of the team."

"Nobody knows they help?" That made sense, she guessed. Just because _they_ didn't have to worry about being recognized, because no one tries linking a ghost to a living human, didn't mean that human helpers were protected as well. "Wait, so did you pick_ Phantom_ as your ghost name?"

"I mean, yeah?" He shrugged. "It's a play on Fenton. Why, what did you pick?"

She grimaced. Okay, so maybe she shouldn't have criticized him. After all, she had _also_ picked a synonym for ghost.

"…Specter," she finally admitted. "But at least mine doesn't sound _exactly_ like my actual last name! How do people not catch on to that?!"

"Oh, Jazz, you and I both know that people wouldn't think of linking a ghost to a living person." Danny wrapped an arm around her shoulders, clicking his tongue. "Besides, our parents are _dead_ certain that humans can't have ghost powers."

"Was that a _pun_?" she hissed at him, wondering why she was surprised in the first place.

He laughed, distancing himself from her again. "Yeah! Come on, you gotta work on your witty banter too. It's a critical part of battle!"

"No it's not," she snapped back, flaring her eyes at him. "And if you're actually going to help me train, I _hope_ you plan on bringing more useful advice."

"Hey!" He pressed a hand to his chest, mock-offended. "I'm a _great_ teacher, thank you very much. And you don't know how often banter has served to distract my enemy so I could catch them off-guard."

She sighed, but let it go. "Fine, as long as we'll focus on actual half-ghost stuff too."

"Of course we will." Danny dropped the pretense, falling back into serious. "I know how hard it can be to be half-ghost, Jazz, especially with our family."

"Speaking of our family… How are you planning on handling that?" She raised a brow at him. "Since I'm assuming you still need food, just like I do."

"Oh. Right…" He made a face like he had, in fact, totally forgotten about necessities. "Uh, I don't know. I'm not carrying a ton of money, and I can't go wandering around town all willy-nilly because people will think I'm _this_ Danny."

"You hadn't thought of that at all, huh?" she asked, unimpressed. "Really, Danny?"

"Hey, it's not like I _chose_ to come here!" he snapped back, his eyes flashing green briefly. "Even if I went into the Zone to look for a portal back, I still would've needed food or water. I can't live off of the ambient ectoplasm like ghosts can—and neither can you, by the way."

She sighed. "That's fair. Alright, let's see… How long can you stay in your ghost form?"

"Without shifting back?" Danny frowned, thoughtfully, then shrugged. "I'm not sure. Never had a reason to try, I guess. Several days, for sure, but I'll need to eat more to make up for the extra energy I'm burning through."

"Right. So then, how about this. Danny—_my_ Danny—and I are both teenagers, so we're eating a lot. We can use that to play off the disappearing of leftovers and such. I'll make sure that there's enough food in the fridge, so you can grab some of those. I'll keep an eye on where my brother is, so you'll know when it's safe to go into the kitchen for food."

"And, what, spend most of my day haunting the town?" Danny shook his head dismissively. "I mean, most of that will work, but the moment your parents get a ghost scanner together I'll have to start shifting back. Otherwise I'm gonna be running away from them all day long, and I'm really not up for that."

A ghost scanner? Yes, that _would_ throw off their plans… "Do you know what that'll look like? The ghost scanner, I mean?"

"Yeah? Unless they'll change its design in this world. Why?" He frowned at her.

"Well, why don't we just… sabotage it?" She shrugged at his incredulous look. "I'm not saying we destroy it completely! But if we can stop it from picking up on you—on us, both of us—that would make life a lot easier, right?"

Danny paused, as if considering it. Slowly, he nodded. "Yeah, no, you're right. That thing was always a pain, anyway, since it picked read me as a ghost even in human form."

"Okay, so that's food." She raised a fist, uncurling a single finger. "You can grab drinks the same way, and if you carry a bottle you can just have water with you…" A second finger joined the first. With her other hand, she started tapping on it as she thought.

"And sleep?" Danny asked, dryly. "I don't need as much sleep if I stay in my ghost form a lot, but I'll still need _some_. Unless you can me to lose consciousness and shift back mid-air."

"You can… nap in my room while I'm away?" She made a face. It wasn't a _great_ option—she didn't like the idea of Danny being in her room without supervision—but she didn't know any better ideas. "It's not ideal, but my parents will be in the lab all day anyway."

"Ugh." He wiped a hand over his face, but nodded his approval anyway. "So I'm gonna be living a nocturnal life for the time being. Great. Brilliant."

Oh, that was right. Forcibly shifting him into a different sleeping pattern would probably cause trouble, wouldn't it? "Is that okay? We can build up to it slowly, if you want. That should make the transition easier on you, or on your body, at least?"

Danny flapped a hand. "It's fine, never mind. I barely sleep during the night, since the ghosts keep attacking. Most of my sleep I get while napping in class, anyway."

"I can't imagine that that does your grades any good." She narrowed her eyes at him. Danny's grades were never the greatest, anyway—he could coast on by without much effort, so he preferred to focus on other stuff—and she knew _her_ grades had already taken a hit from the regular hunting.

"Doesn't matter," he said dismissively. "There's nothing I can do to change it, and definitely not _now_, while I'm here. No point in worrying about it."

"That's not a very good way of coping," she chastised. But, fine, she supposed she might as well drop the topic. "But alright. I gotta head home before anyone gets worried. What about you?"

He hummed, taking a moment to think it over. "I think that I'm gonna fly about a little, explore the city. See what kind of differences there are between our versions of Amity Park." He raised a hand when she opened her mouth. "I'll stay invisible, don't worry. I'm not gonna be the one to tip off Amity Park to the existence of ghosts."

"Okay," she said, slowly, "good. Make sure to drop by somewhere tonight, so I can help you grab leftovers."

"Yeah, alright." Light flashed in the clearing as Danny shifted back to his ghost form. He met her eyes again, and now that she was looking more closely, she realized his eyes were the exact color of ectoplasm. Eerie. "And Jazz… thanks. For going through the effort of arranging things for me behind your parents' backs."

"Of course." She smiled at him, trying to press as much warmth into the expression as she could. "Thank you, too, for helping me with the half-ghost stuff."

Danny huffed, shaking his head. "What else would I do? You're my sister, Jazz, even if you're not _my_ Jazz. Stay out of trouble, and I'll see you tonight, yeah?"

"Only if you do the same." She watched as he floated up, smooth and effortlessly. "See you tonight, Danny!"

He raised one hand in a wave goodbye, then suddenly shot off.

Show-off.

* * *

I haven't done my customary read-through on this chapter, so if there are any spelling mistakes and such, please let me know so I can fix them! (at some point, hopefully later this week) My family moved today, so I've been hauling boxes and furniture and what-not for about 12 hours straight and I'm _exhausted_.

As for the chapter, tah-dah! Yes, the idea of Absurdism was to have (canon) Danny meet a Jazz right from the start of her half-ghost existence, so he could teach her. Danny's universe is somewhere post-canon, after D-Stabilized (and ignoring Phantom Planet), so he's got tons of experience. Jazz, on the other hand, is right from the start of the timeline, before episode 3 (One of a Kind).

Next week, chapter 3: Two of a Kind


	3. Two of a Kind

Danny stretched out, releasing a huge yawn, then bonelessly flopped back onto the roof he was lying on. Staring unseeingly up at the sky, he contemplated how he'd gotten here. Man, he really should've realized sooner that this wasn't _his_ Amity Park. Maybe if he had, he could've gone back through the Portal.

Despite his bluster towards Jazz—_this_ Jazz—he really _was_ concerned about how things were, back home. He was sure that Valerie could handle the ghosts, especially if Dani dropped by, but he hadn't seen his cousin in forever. And Sam, Tucker, and Jazz might've been pretty good ghost hunters, perfectly capable of helping Val, but…

But they would be far too busy looking for him to be any help.

There was nothing he could do about it, though. He knew how rare natural portals were, and how unpredictable. It was nigh impossible for him to find his way back on his own, and convincing Frostbite to give him the Infi-map would be… well, pretty difficult, he supposed. He didn't have any "Conqueror of Pariah Dark" titles to show off, not here.

What he'd told _had_ been the truth, to some extent. If he was stuck here, he might as well make himself useful. Give her the guidance she would need; the guidance he _wished_ he'd had, when he first started.

Of course he'd forgotten about all the potential downtime. Jazz had school, and even if Danny took care of most of the minor ghosts, that still left… a surprising amount of time. With how busy his life felt, he really would've guessed that ghost-hunting took up more time than it did.

Maybe the downtime just _felt_ really long. It wasn't like there was much he could do, after all. He couldn't go anywhere in human form, because people might confuse him for this universe's Danny Fenton. And he couldn't go anywhere as a ghost, because people weren't familiar with those. Not yet, at least.

That, and even if they _were_, it would probably involve his parents hunting him. And, uh, he wasn't exactly jumping with excitement to get back to _that_. Hell, he hadn't even gotten his _real_ parents to quit hunting him.

His core stirred to life, and cold air wisped out of his mouth.

"Well, here we go again," he grumbled to himself, pushing himself off of the ground. He glanced over at FentonWorks, but Jazz didn't stir. Wherever the ghost was, it was outside her range. Well, whatever. He could handle it on his own.

He would almost be tempted to let it run a little loose, just to stifle the boredom, but it was too risky. That, and he and Jazz were trying to keep the existence of ghosts a secret for as long as possible. Letting some random animalistic ghost run wild wasn't good for public morale.

A glint of light in the distance caught his attention, and he zoned in on it immediately. Metal, maybe? Not a lot of ghosts brought ectoplasmic metal with them, and surely it was too early for Cujo…

The connections clicked in Danny's mind, and he hesitated. Skulker, of course. Maybe he _should_ get Jazz. Skulker tended to be a pretty tough fight, always upgrading his gear.

But, oh.

Skulker upgraded his gear, from the moment they first fought. _This_ Skulker wouldn't have any of those upgrades. He would be 2.5 years behind the curve; he'd be a wimp compared to the Skulker Danny usually fought.

Danny tapped into his invisibility, then started a large arc, only vaguely in Skulker's direction. He was pretty sure the ghost was employed by Vlad right now, assuming that the other half-ghost _was_ Vlad in this universe. But Vlad wouldn't know about Jazz—or Specter—just yet. Skulker was just following rumors, hoping to snatch a half-ghost as prey before his employer could find out. Danny just needed to show him how hopelessly outmatched he was, and make sure Skulker wouldn't tell Vlad.

The hulking metallic ghost was crouched on a rooftop, his mohawk flickering in the wind. Danny hovered behind him, dropping his invisibility, but the hunter didn't even notice him. Ha! Too focused on Jazz, it seemed.

Danny cleared his throat.

Skulker whipped around, the panels on one arm shifting to reveal an ecto-gun. Danny eyed the gun aimed at his chest with half-lidded eyes. He'd seen more impressive weaponry wielded by literal high-schoolers. And that wasn't even counting Valerie _or_ the members of Team Phantom.

"Sup," he said instead, nodding at Skulker. "Having fun?"

The ghost seemed thrown off by Danny's casual attitude, his gun faltering slightly and his brows drawing together. "Um. Yes?"

"Well, see, I don't appreciate that much." He crossed his arms, maintaining his hover so he was taller than Skulker. "She's under my protection, you see."

Skulker snorted dismissively. More panels opened up to reveal weaponry. Weak, _outdated_ weaponry. That's right! This Skulker hadn't even upgraded his basic body with Tucker's PDA yet. Oh, what a joke!

"Yeah?" the ghost challenged. The gun came back up, aimed at Danny's chest—his core. "And what are _you_ going to do about it, whelp?"

"See, I was hoping you would ask that." Danny smirked at Skulker, releasing the tight grasp he'd had on his core. Volatile ectoplasm, as green as his eyes, started curling around his hands. Gathered in thick glowing balls of pure energy in his palms. His glow flickered brighter as more and more energy released from his core.

Maybe this was a little overkill, all things considered. But Skulker had been a pain in his ass plenty of times. Besides, better to release some of that pent-up energy on a target like Skulker, who could take it a lot more easily than the animal ghosts Danny usually fought.

"Oh, I see." Skulker's eyes narrowed as energy started building in his ecto-weaponry. "It's a fight you want."

Meeting Skulker's eye, Danny grinned even wider. "What I _really_ want is for you to leave this city alone, and refrain from telling your employer about the existence of another half-ghost, but sure, for now I'll settle for a fight."

Finishing his sentence, he formed a reflective shield in front of him, intercepting Skulker's shot the moment it was fired. The ghost thus momentarily disarmed, Danny flung the ecto-glass at him.

Skulker spluttered, swatting the shattering glass away, and was thus distracted enough for Danny to grab onto him. His white gloves dug for purchase, before one hand closed around the strap of his shirt, and the other caught onto the edge of his pauldron. Eh, good enough.

Satisfied that he had a decent enough grip, Danny shot up into the sky, Skulker dragged along. The ghost struggled underneath his hands, but couldn't get enough leverage to get free. Not until they reached a satisfactory level of height, and Danny let go of the ghost entirely.

"Whelp!" the ghost barked at him, jet-pack wings unfolding from the panels on his back. "What do you think you are doing?!"

"Getting you out of the public eye." Danny shifted, new energy forming in his palms as easily as breathing. "Amity doesn't know about ghosts yet, and I don't want their first impression to be _this_ ass-kicking."

"You expect me to be fear you, just because of that little shield?" Skulker laughed, sharp and metallic, before raising his gun again. "Ha! As if."

"Nah. But I've fought ghosts far stronger than you, man." Danny raised one hand as well, focusing his energy into the single ecto-blast. "And certainly scarier, too."

He fired. Skulker, unable to respond so quickly, took the blast straight on the arm. The gun was blown off entirely, the metal on Skulker's arm blackened and smoking.

Before Skulker could pull out another gun, Danny followed it up with a few more shots for emphasis. Blew off the remaining guns, then froze up most of the wings holding Skulker up for good measure.

The ghost faltered in mid-air, his engines cutting out for a short moment. He glanced at his wings, then at Danny, who had barely even moved.

"I… see." His voice was low, and he was clearly unhappy to be so clearly outmatched. "What… did you say you wanted, again?"

Danny snorted. "Convinced already? You didn't even make me show off any of the really impressive stuff."

He shrugged, ignoring the way Skulker's eyes widened in surprise. "I want you to leave this city alone, and all of its citizens. If you _must_, you can come hunt ghosts here, but only after checking in with me, and if I agree with your prey. And you can't tell your employer about the half-ghost you were hunting."

Skulker remained silent for a moment, eyeing up Danny. Finally, he grunted, "You know of my employer?"

"Some," Danny said dismissively. "I want to keep this city safe. And I've got the stinking feeling that if they knew about the existence of this half-ghost, trouble would come."

"A fair assessment." The metallic ghost thought it over for moment longer, angling his head. "And what if I do not follow these rules?"

"Besides the fact that I can clearly kick your ass in a fight?" Danny raised a challenging brow. "I can destroy your reputation in the Ghost Zone just as easily. You're the greatest hunter around, sure, until everyone knows you're barely more than a blob ghost. Small, soft-shelled ghost that needs a robot suit to hunt? Not exactly a huge threat."

"I—" Skulker blew out a noisy breath—somewhat surprising to Danny, since he hadn't realized Skulker could even _do_ that—and shook his head. "How do you even _know_ that? Fine, whelp. I will leave, and if I ever chase prey into this upside-down world, I will inform you of my presence. Good enough?"

"And you won't tell your employer?" Danny pressed. "Or anybody else, really. Nobody who doesn't already know."

"Yes, sure, fine," Skulker snapped back. "Her existence will remain a secret, or at the very least, I will have no role in revealing it."

"Good enough." Danny released the gathering energy, softening the glow of his body, and stuck out an arm in Skulker's direction. "Pleasure doing business with you, Skulker."

"Wish I could say the same," the ghost grumbled, but he took Danny's hand and shook it nonetheless. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go."

"Sure, sure, of course." Danny waved his hands at Skulker. "Go have fun upgrading your suit. But don't break our deal, or I _will_ know, and you _will_ regret it. Gotcha?"

"Yes, I understood your threat already." Skulker shook his head, flying off in the direction of FentonWorks—and the Portal. Danny watched him leave, then shrugged to himself, tapped into his invisibility, and followed Skulker.

You know, just to be safe.

* * *

"I feel like this is going to be come very confusing, very quickly," Jazz admitted as she landed in the open space in the woods. Danny—alternative universe Danny—was already there, in his ghost form.

"Huh?" He blinked, clearly confused, and stuffed a phone into one of the pockets on his belt. "What do you mean? What'll get confusing?"

"Just— _this_!" She threw out her hands for emphasis, trying to gesture at, well, _everything_. "I really appreciate your help, but, y'know. You're Danny, but not _my_ Danny, but that sounds so rude!"

He blinked at her once more, then snorted loudly. "Yeah, no, I get it. I'm having the same with… well, basically everything. Jazz, and your parents, and everything else. You can call me Phantom if it helps, though."

"I don't know…" She grimaced, shifting her feet uneasily. "That just feels… rude, I guess? It's basically your last name, isn't it? Phantom?"

"It's my ghost name. Sam and Tucker use it all the time as well, when I'm in my ghost form." He floated a little closer, then shrugged almost dismissively. "Plus, you'll have to get used to it anyway. When we start making our public appearances, we'll have to call each other Specter and Phantom anyway."

Right. She supposed he had a point there. "I guess so. Will you start calling me Specter, then?"

"If you want me to." Danny landed as well, his boots touching down on the grassy soil. "I don't mind either way. I've gotten used to switching between that kinda stuff really quickly, with Red and all that."

"Uh huh…" There was the mysterious 'Red' again. "Speaking of this mysterious Red, you mind telling me a little something about them? And Danielle, as well, since you apparently trust those two to help keep _your_ Amity safe? Could they help here, too?"

He made a face. Guess not. "Eh, I don't know, Jazz. Not now, that's for sure. It would be better to focus on training your own powers for now, and I'll keep an eye on those two just in case. Okay?"

"Sure, sounds good." She shrugged, but made sure to remember that. Whoever they were, they must've gotten into the ghost hunting business after Danny. Strange, though. Were they half-ghosts as well, or regular ghost hunters? Maybe one of each? Red could be a ghost name, since most ghost hunters seemed content with using their own. Danielle… Ignoring the close resemblance to Danny's name, she could be a regular ghost hunter.

But, if Danny wasn't interested in following up on their existence, she was willing to drop it as well. For now. Her own powers still needed plenty of work, although she'd be perfectly happy just to get these few under control.

"How about we start with some basic control?" Danny asked, suddenly, snapping her out of thoughts. "I remember that that was one of the things I struggled with most, after the accident."

"Yeah, uh." She laughed, a little embarrassed. "That would be nice."

"Thought as much. Do you have any preferences?"

Reliable flight was nice, of course, for travel. Invisibility was mostly annoying when it activated when she didn't want to; she couldn't think of any situations where she might normally use it. Most problematic of all, though…

"Intangibility, for sure." It was not only the most annoying, it also activated most of the three basic powers, and it could be really tough to cover for. "I'm _so_ done with dropping things."

This startled a laugh out of Danny. He lifted off of the ground again, floating in closer. "Oh, yeah, I know your struggles. Have you gotten in trouble with school yet, for dropping so much glassware?"

"No?" She frowned, mentally prodding her core a little. Were warm-ups a thing for ghost cores? Did shifting into ghost form count as warming it up? "I try not to handle the glassware too much, just in case. Why, is that a thing I need to be cautious of?"

"Nah, sounds like you've got it handled already." He flapped a dismissive hand. "I dropped so much glass during my first month that the school banned me from handling it anymore, but it sounds like you were smarter about it. Still, intangibility first?"

"Uh. Yeah, please." She clenched and unclenched her fists a little, unsure of how to proceed. "And, um. Dan— Phantom. Do we need to do some kind of… warming up, or something?"

"What, like when you're going sporting?" He frowned, then dropped the face and shrugged. "Not really? Using your powers is easier while in ghost form, but your core is active all the time. You don't need to warm-up your brain when you're gonna start thinking, right? It's always doing its thing."

"But aren't powers more like muscles? Aren't we training them?"

Almost immediately, he shook his head. "Nah. I mean, a little, but not really. We're gonna work on your connection with your core, mostly, since that's where your power malfunctions are coming from. Your core has the powers ready, but you're not used to using it."

She narrowed her eyes, but he seemed certain of his answers, and, well. She had no way to disprove him, did she? "And new powers? Building stamina?"

"Both will come with time. Your core is still new, and young. It needs time to grow and stabilize. Using your powers will guide it in a certain direction, which is why training will help you develop new powers sooner. And using them more will help you build stamina faster, since your core will focus more on developing it."

"I… see." She prodded the core again, mentally. It stirred, easily. Was that just the trick to controlling her powers? Getting better at communicating with this new part of herself? "So how are we gonna train that?"

Danny's expression grew sheepish. "Well, mostly I figured you could just work on your powers here, where no one would notice. Like I said, control comes from practice, and I can't really help much with that." He shrugged. "Besides the assurance that you won't get hurt, of course."

Jazz shot him an unamused look, but he ignored it completely.

"So, anyway, wanna start with intangibility? I'll be here to make sure you don't get stuck phasing through something."

"That's a possibility?" She blanched, throwing a quick look downward at the ground. She hadn't even known that it was possible for her to get stuck!

"Well, it's never happened to me, since I'm pretty sure you retain intangibility by reflex if you're partially phased into something…" Danny shrugged. "But now you can be sure that it won't happen to you!"

"You're a terrible teacher! Now you've gone and made me scared of something I didn't even know I _could_ be scared about!" She combed a hand through her hair, aggravatedly. "Honestly, Danny!"

"Uh, whoops." He shot her a sheepish grin, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was pretty scared of accidentally getting myself stuck, so I figured the same would go for you. Sorry."

"Honestly," she grumbled, half to herself. "So far the only useful thing you've done to help is deal with all those other ghosts."

Danny laughed, clearly still a little unsure of himself. "That's fair. This basic stuff, I can't help with, not much. But once you've gotten better at it, I'll be able to teach you all kinds of stuff. Like this!"

His fists lit up, suddenly, bright energized ectoplasm balling around his hands. Like the blasts from an ecto-gun, except that he was forming it himself.

"Pretty cool, huh? But if you're not too big on fighting, you can use it defensively as well." He swept his hands out, and the ectoplasm following, forming a hollowed-out ball around him. "See? We'll spend a lesson or two on control, but after all, I'll help you with new stuff."

Well, she wasn't above admitting that she'd been convinced. "What if I work on control at home, and we start on that stuff next time? Shields could be really useful."

"Hah, uh, I guess?" The shield broke apart again, and Danny shrugged. "I mean, I usually dodge hits instead, since that costs less energy. But ecto-blasts are a pretty basic technique, so we can start on that next time, if you really want to. But! You'll need to have a good amount of control already. Your core is essential for that."

"Isn't my core _always_ essential?" she asked dryly. "Since it's, you know, the center of my ghost powers?"

"You know what I mean." He stuck out his tongue, and she stamped down her reflex to do it back. No matter how much like Danny he was, this wasn't _her_ brother. It was unfair to all of them to pretend otherwise.

Besides, if she was going to protect this town, she had to be a hero. No, not just _a _hero. _The_ hero. Mature and an icon for the town to look up to. Not just a kid.

"But you want to get going, then?" Danny said, snapping her out of her thoughts again. "Since you said you wanted to work on your control at home?"

"Uh, yeah. If that's… okay with you?" She twirled a strand of her vividly purple hair, still unused to its color—and the way it wisped. "Plus I kind of… need to clean the lab?"

"I'm not gonna force you to keep my company if you can't or don't want to, Jazz." Danny met her eyes, the bright green barely hiding the sadness in them. "Go, then. I'll be around when you've ready for the next lesson."

"Right…" She scuffed one boot on the ground, but, well. She had committed, now, no matter how distressed Danny seemed. Besides, there was nothing she could do for him. "Well, thanks, anyway. For this, and for helping me with the ghosts."

"Of course." He cocked his head at her. "You're my sister, Jazz, even if this is a different universe. Stay safe, okay? Cleaning the lab is always a nasty chore for a half-ghost."

"I'll be careful," she assured him, before turning around, ready to fly back home. Then she paused, glancing back over her shoulder at him. "You be careful too, alright? Just because you're not _my_ Danny doesn't mean that I want you to get hurt, either."

"I promise." He smiled at her, and she could almost pretend not to see the sadness in it.

She nodded to herself, finally pushing herself off and into the air. He'd be fine. Danny—Phantom—had been half-ghost for over two years. He could take care of himself.

But he just looked so lonely, here.

* * *

"What is this even supposed to be?" Jazz wondered out-loud, carefully lifting one of the half-assembled inventions in the lab. She was just about done cleaning the lab, anyway. She could afford the distraction. "Some kind of vacuum?"

Her core pulsed in her chest, and for a brief moment, she worried that she had somehow turned the invention on. But then cold air wisped from her mouth. Heaving a sigh, she turned around, towards the Portal.

Its green surface was flat, undisturbed. Ectoplasm swirled, like it was held back by an invisible barrier.

Suddenly it parted, a single humanoid ghost coming through. Green skin and oversized green gloves, a white coat with a humongous collar, and some of the wildest hair she had ever seen. Square glasses blocked the ghost's eyes, so she couldn't tell the color. Not that it was a big deal, but still.

"Uh, hey," she greeted the ghost, putting down the ghost-vacuum-thing. "You're not here to cause trouble, are you?"

"I am Technus!" the ghost retorted, pressing one hand to his puffed-up chest, "And I'm the master of all technology!"

"Okay, cool. Good for you." She narrowed her eyes at him, nudging the vacuum-invention behind herself. "That didn't answer my question."

Technus narrowed his glasses—or glass-like eyes, she supposed—at her. "What does it matter to you? All technology is mine, anyway!"

"No it's not! I won't let you steal in this city!" She stood up, puffing herself up as well. "Either you go back into the Zone, or I'll make you!"

"Hah! You've got nothing on me! Technus, master of all things electronic and beeping! And you! You are just a puny human!"

Jazz growled, her core eagerly stirring to life. Energy crackled over her skin as she shifted into her ghost form, casual clothes replaced by her purple jumpsuit.

"Ah, well—" Technus shifted, clearly thrown off. "No matter! Adios!"

And before she could stop him, he darted upwards, phasing through the ceiling of the lab.

"Hey, hold up!" She shot after him, phasing through the house. For a moment she was afraid that she had lost him, but then she caught sight of him again. Speeding towards the city, faster than she thought she could fly. Dammit!

Pushing herself to her max speed, she raced after him. He wasn't all that fast, sure, but neither was she!

Technus slowed down soon enough, apparently distracted by an electronics store. Jazz finally caught up with him when her ghost sense went off again. She cursed, already turning to look for the other ghost, when Danny came to a halt next to her.

"Sorry, I was still in the woods. What's up?"

"Some ghost named Technus." She gestured over at the ghost, reaching for the Thermos on her belt. Yes, it was there, thank goodness. "He got away from me before I could shove him back through the Portal."

"I'll deal with him, he can be a bit of a pain in the ass." Danny's expression was serious for once, clearly focused on their strategy. "I want you to make sure he doesn't get access to any of the tech around here. He'll be able to possess it, and that'll make him way stronger."

"And we don't want that. Got it." She nodded, then dove down. It wouldn't be a particularly hard thing, she figured, since Danny would be fighting Technus and thus distracting him. And it would give her a perfect opportunity to watch Phantom use his powers to their full extend, to watch him fight for real. Snapping up the occasional animal ghost didn't count.

She had just lowered herself between Technus and the store when Danny followed her lead. Except, unlike her, he just straight-up tackled Technus.

Danny hit the full ghost like a meteor strike, hitting him at speeds she didn't realize he could fly at. Somehow her not-quite brother stopped before either of them hit the ground, halting so suddenly that she was amazed he didn't snap his neck.

Suddenly electricity lanced through the two brawling ghosts, crackling over Technus' body, forcing Danny—Phantom—to distance himself again.

"I am Technus! Master of all things electric and zappy!"

"Oh, shut up, will you?" Phantom snapped back, a green ecto-blast forming in his fist. "I've heard it before!"

Technus opened his mouth, but before he could reply, the blast hit him. The ghost went flying down, crumpling onto the asphalt road. Not hard enough to cause serious damage, though, she was surprised to note.

Phantom shot down after him. Landed on Technus and pressed him back down when the ghost tried to get up.

"No, you stay down and listen," he growled, aura flaring bright. "Here's what we're gonna do, okay? You go back to the Zone, and you're gonna cool off. If you ever decide you can come here _without_ stealing anything, or causing any other sort of trouble, you can come talk to me. Understood?"

"And if I don't?" Technus narrowed his eyes, spectral tail lashing. "What if I leave, and come back unnoticed?"

"I'll _know_." Phantom leaned in close, eyes glowing brighter. "Trust me, you don't want to find out. Leave, Technus, or I won't ask so nicely."

Then he let go, floating away from the previously pinned ghost. Technus looked between him, then her.

"Fine," the ghost finally said, clearly begrudgingly. "Even I, Technus, know when I am outmatched."

"Just go already," Phantom snapped at him, and Technus flinched away, closer to her. "Specter, mind escorting him back, so we're sure he's not getting away?"

"Yeah, sure." She waved a hand in the direction of home. "Come on, get going. We don't have all day."

* * *

Technically Danny and Jazz share POV in this story, but most scenes work best from her perspective so... enjoy the rare bits of Danny/Phantom POV when you get them, lol. Also... Danny sad. Gotta love that dimensional homesickness.

Also this story is giving me the perfect opportunity to write a bunch of the DP villains and that's always fun. Not sure if I'm gonna nail every one of their voices, but practice makes perfect!

Next time, Chapter 4: What You Want


	4. What You Want

Jazz' core thrummed in her chest. Energy lapped from it through her body, streaming through her veins. Pooled together in her hand.

A golden glow emitted from her hand, but it was dim, flickered wildly.

"You're getting there," Danny—Phantom—encouraged, standing right next to her. "You can feel the energy coming from your core, yeah? If you increase that amount, the blast will get brighter and stronger."

"Right." She tried to tug on her core, tried to pull more energy from it. The energized ectoplasm in her hand pulsed, growing bigger. Its glow grew more steady, too.

"And then, when you're ready to let go of it, fire! Aim at your target, and then _will_ the energy to go there."

She nodded, watching the golden-yellow ball of energy in her hand. It was in constant motion, the glow dimming and brightening in sync with the pulse of her core.

Slowly, steadily, she raised the hand towards her previously chosen target. The rock was a big target, and close enough that she felt like it would be nearly impossible for her to miss.

She released the energy.

"Good hit," Phantom complimented, floating over to the rock. Its surface was scorched where she hit it, but the soot rubbed off easily. "Not a lot of strength behind it just yet, but that's fine. Aim is more important."

"Why was it golden, anyway?" She walked over as well, but it was as she thought. The hit had blackened the surface of the stone, but it was barely damaged underneath. "Aren't your blasts green?"

"I dunno." Phantom shrugged, ignoring her incredulous expression. "Look, I'm not an expert on all things ghost, okay? I know _some_ stuff, but I had other priorities. I guess it might be linked to eye color, though."

"Eye color?" she repeated, thinking it over. Yes, she supposed Phantom had blasts that matched his eyes, and she had golden eyes, but… "Do you know more ghosts as an example, then? I thought green was kind of standard, since that's what our parents have."

"Pretty sure green is the most common, because that's the standard color of ectoplasm." He formed a ball of ecto-energy of his own, tossing it from one hand to the other. "And I'm not sure if it holds up for full ghosts, but all half-ghosts I know have energy blasts that match their eyes. Well, more or less. Plasmius had magenta energy and red eyes."

She nodded along, then ground to a halt. "Sorry, who's _Plasmius_? There's another half-ghost?"

"Well, yeah. In my world, at least. Not sure if he's different in this one." Phantom shook his head, turning to look at her again. "If he, or his equivalent in this world, is anything like mine, you don't want to bother with him. He doesn't live anywhere nearby, and he's not gonna help you. I'll—"

"Keep an eye out for him?" she finished dryly. "Yeah, I figured."

"Come on, Jazz, don't be like that. I'm not keeping you in the dark on purpose, alright? I just want to make sure I don't tell you anything that's different here."

"Yeah, I know." She sighed, but nodded. "It's just— You do that a lot, you know? With Red, and Danielle, and now this Plasmius. And you've barely told me anything about _your_ experiences with the ghosts, with, well. All this."

"It's just… hard." He rubbed a hand through his eyes, and when he looked up again, the sadness was back. "This place is so much like home, and all the ghosts… I keep remembering when I first met them, with Sam and Tucker by my sides. Or you, or hell, sometimes even Red. There's so much history, and it's… I miss them, Jazz."

He heaved a heavy sigh, his boots touching down in the grass. His posture was slumped, like he was carrying the weight of a world. In some way, she supposed he was. "And there's no point in going looking, because I'm never going to find the portal on my own, and I _know_ that. But it's still… hard, to talk about that. To know that somewhere out here, there's a Sam and a Tucker, and they're _almost_ like mine, but not quite. That don't have any of these experiences."

"I'm sorry," she said, and she meant it with all her heart. "I didn't mean—"

"I know," he interrupted her, waving a hand. "I know, Jazz. I'll… try to talk more about this stuff, okay?"

"Yeah, alright." She nudged him, gently. "Want me to try blasting that rock again?"

He snorted. "That could barely be considered a blast, you know. But, yeah, go for it."

"Oh, are you really trash talking me now? Wow." She stirred her core back to life, feeling it hum with energy. Honestly, as offended as she acted, she was just glad to get Phantom cheered up again, even if only a little.

"We'll have to work on your trash talk too, you know?" Phantom threw a look at the ball of ectoplasm she was forming, then took position between her and the rock. "Amity Park knows we're here, now. That ghosts exist. Sooner or later you'll have to fight for real, with opponents that understand what you're yelling at them."

"I _know_, you don't have to tell me." More energy pulsed into the ball. She wanted this one to have some punch to it. "But for now, I would rather focus on the actual fighting aspect."

Phantom hummed, not shifting from his position between her and her target. "Good. In that case, we'll move on to target shooting. Tell me when you're ready to fire that one."

"And, what, I'm supposed to just shoot you?" She shook her head. "No matter how weak this blast will probably be, I don't want to risk hurting you, Phantom."

"If you warn me before you shoot it, I'll make a shield." He reclined a little, entirely too casual considering that he was talking about her _shooting_ him. "It'll give us a better image of your current strength, and you won't break through anyway. I've stopped ecto-blasts way stronger than your core can make right now, it's fine."

"If you insist…" she said, uncertainly. But, well. If he was sure about that, who was she to tell him no? "I'm ready when you are."

"Good." A green dome appeared around him, transparent enough for her to see him within. Its surface stirred, in constant motion. It almost looked like an oversized ecto-blast, but hollowed out so one could take shelter within.

Jazz lifted her hand, putting a last bit of energy into her blast. And, once more, she fired.

The dome took the hit easily, the blast sizzling out against its almost liquid surface.

"Very good. Was that where you aimed?" The dome dissolved, leaving Danny floating in the open clearing. "The strength was alright, but you'll need to work more to increase it, of course."

"Of course," she repeated, rolling her eyes. "The aim was pretty close, but I'll need to practice more. It's weird, to aim with your arm like that."

"It took me a while to get the hang of it, too," Phantom assured her, floating closer again. "We can practice more, if you want, or we can try something else."

"I… Let's stick with this for now." The shield could be useful, but she was pretty sure she needed more consistent strength for that, first. "This was a good way to build core strength, right?"

"Pretty good, yeah. And it's a basic technique, which can serve as a jumping-off point for more advanced techniques." Phantom floated back to his old position, his legs merged together in a spectral tail. "Let me know when to throw up another shield."

"Sure," she said, and they went through the motions once more. Phantom's shield blocked her next blast with ease, not even flickering upon impact.

"Better," he complimented her, looking pleased. Then he caught sight of something in her expression, and his face dropped. "Jazz? What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she assured him quickly, but it didn't seem to work as his frown grew deeper. "Nothing related to this, really, it's fine."

"I never see you look frustrated, Jazz, unless it's something serious. You know you can talk to me, right, even if it's not half-ghost stuff?"

She sighed, but nodded. "Yeah. It's just… It's nothing, really."

Phantom scoffed. "I don't believe that. Seriously, Jazz, either tell me, or tell someone else. If I learned anything from _my_ Jazz, it's that keeping this stuff to yourself does more harm than good."

"Oh, don't use my own psychology techniques against me." She stuck out her tongue, but admittedly, he had a point. "It's nothing, really, just… I hate seeing all the bullying happening at school, you know? They never target me, sure, but I wish I could help anyway."

"Trust me, I know the feeling." He floated in closer, settling in next to her. "I _did_ get bullied, you know. After I got my powers, even I didn't want anyone to know about them, it was so easy to imagine getting back to them. Invisibility and intangibility… not to mention overshadowing!"

"Why didn't you?" she asked, turning to look at him. His eyes sparked with life, now, and that ever-present hint of sadness. Memories and homesickness, she figured.

He snorted. "I _did_. Sam wasn't very happy with me, but Tucker approved—he got bullied too, you know—so I figured I was in the right. Ah, if only it worked out like that…"

"What happened? Did they catch on, somehow?"

"Nah, not them." It didn't seem like he was going to elaborate, so she prodded him a little. Okay, maybe a lot. It was her right as a little sister to be annoying! "Alright, fine, I'll tell!"

"Go on, then," she insisted.

"Okay, okay, chill. None of the humans caught on, but there was this ghost who was opposed to bullies. Only, he thought that _I_ was the bully, because he hadn't seen how it started. It was… a whole mess, honestly, so I tried not to use my powers for that kinda stuff afterwards. Didn't want to risk it again."

"How did that even happen?" she asked, curious despite herself. It sounded like this ghost had the right idea, honestly. Even if Phantom might be reluctant to search them out, maybe _she_ could. "How did they catch you off-guard, anyway?"

"Oh, Sidney has a portal of sorts inside Casper High." Phantom ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up. "It's a mirror inside his old locker. He can go through it, but no one else can, so it's not a huge deal. Not sure what made it activate, honestly. He just started appearing after I got switched to that locker. I ended up breaking the mirror to make sure he couldn't come back, although he can still use the regular portal."

"Huh." She quickly scrawled all this down in a mental notepad. Sidney, a ghost in Casper High, had an old locker with a mirror that activated after Danny started using it… Maybe she could find it later, with a little research. "Well, I'm glad it all turned out okay in the end."

Phantom laughed, humorlessly. "Yeah, me too. Now, if that was your only concern, how about another ecto-blast?"

* * *

Jazz paused in front of the locker. Glancing one way and then another, she made sure that the hallways were empty. In front of her was locker 724, in all its damaged and rusty glory.

She hesitated. It hadn't been all that hard to find information about the ghost Phantom had mentioned. Sidney Poindexter was an old student of Casper High, bullied relentlessly throughout the years. Stories about him haunting Casper High had been around for decades, but none of those stories ever mentioned his mirror.

But Phantom—Danny—had. According to him, Sidney had started appearing from his mirror once Danny got the locker. She supposed that the mirror needed the increased amount of activity to activate, or perhaps Sidney needed it. Either way, the best way to keep an eye on the activated portal would be to move to someplace safer.

Gathering her courage, and with one last glance to make sure no one was watching, Jazz shifted to her ghost form. As Specter, she turned herself intangible, reaching through the locked door. Her hands closed around the edge of the mirror, and carefully, she pulled it out. She wasn't sure if it was adhered to its spot, somehow, but it didn't seem to be.

Pulling it out entirely, she was left with an ordinary-looking mirror. Shifting back to her human form didn't make it change, either.

"Not sure what I expected," she muttered under her breath, turning back to her own locker. If only she had more information on how this was _supposed_ to work. What if she had broken the connection permanently by moving the mirror?

Jazz unlocked her locker easily, then lifted the mirror to place it in the back. She paused. Lowered the mirror again.

Gently, she blew the dust off, then wiped the remainder away with the sleeve of her shirt.

"There," she said, placing the mirror in the back of her locker. It hadn't activated to the dusting off either. Maybe she needed to talk to him?

"I… I don't know if you can hear me…" She paused, biting her lip, feeling foolish. But if Sidney was real, and he certainly _sounded _like he was, maybe she just needed to treat him like a person? "I've… heard about you, Sidney. About the good you do, standing up to bullies. And… honestly, I think the school could really use someone like you. The bullies are out of control, and teachers aren't stopping them, no matter how I ask. And I— I might have powers, _ghost_ powers, but I don't— I don't know how to use them for this. I want to help, but I don't know how."

She swallowed, but the mirror remained blank. Undisturbed. "I don't know if you're… If you can hear me." She reached out, placing her fingers on the cold surface of the mirror. "But, Sidney, if you _can_ hear me… Please come. Please help me deal with these bullies."

Still no reaction. She drew her hand back, feeling stupid. No matter. Even if it didn't work, at least the mirror was someplace safe.

Shaking her head, Jazz closed her locker again. She might've wasted most of her break on this, but she had some time still left.

* * *

Slowly, Jazz shifted books from her locker to her backpack, and vice versa. Around her, the noise in the hallways lessened as more and more people left. It was Friday, now, almost a week after she'd brought the mirror to her own locker.

Even if she had doubted the effect of it at the time, the stories were undeniable. More and more people started talking about it, about bullies getting shut down, getting put in their place.

The hallways around her emptied. She kept up the pretense of being slow until she was sure that they were empty, that she was alone.

"Hey," she said, addressing the mirror. "Um… Are you there?"

The surface of the mirror rippled, like the Portal did when Technus came through, little more than a week ago. And, just like then, out came a ghost.

Colored entirely in monochrome—which she didn't even realize was possible for ghosts—was a teenage ghost roughly her own age. Dressed in old-school style clothes, which made sense considering how long he'd been around, and with slick black hair, he sure looked the part of a nerd.

Sidney Poindexter blinked at her behind his large glasses.

"Hey, I'm Jazz. Jazz Fenton," she introduced herself, shooting him a disarming smile and offering a hand. "You're Sidney, right? Sidney Poindexter?"

"Er… Yes." He took her hand, shaking it hesitantly. Like all ghosts, his hand was cold to the touch, and a little too soft to be human. "And you are the halfa— the half-ghost. The one who spoke to me, earlier this week?"

"Yeah, that was me." She glanced around, just to be sure, but she hadn't heard anyone approach. The hallways were still empty. "I go by Specter in my ghost form. I've been working together with my brother Phantom to keep this city safe from ghostly threats, but… the school isn't even safe from _human_ threats. I heard stories about you, about who you are and what you do, and I was hoping you could help."

The ghost nodded, then straightened his bow tie. "Well, I'm honored to be considered. It would be my pleasure to help in any way I could."

"Good, good, I'm glad." She shot him another smile, and Sidney flushed a darker gray—a substitute for blushing? "As long as you don't go too far, of course, but I think you've got a good grasp on that already."

"Yes, of course. We'd be no better than the bullies if we caused any real hurt." Sidney hesitated, then cleared his throat. "Are there any… limitations to this agreement? To stay in the school, to only appear within certain hours, any such things?"

"I mean, not really?" She shrugged. "So far the city hasn't seen a ton of ghosts yet, since Phantom and I have tried to keep everything out of sight, but that'll end sooner or later anyway. As long as you don't cause any trouble, you're free to go wherever you want in the city."

"The whole city?" Sidney repeated, growing wide-eyed. "You would offer me such freedom so easily?"

"Well, yeah." She shrugged. "As long as they're not causing trouble, I don't see why we must differentiate between ghosts and humans. The public probably won't agree with me on that, especially the local ghost hunters, but as long as you can avoid them you'll be fine."

"Ah. I'm not sure if I'm ready to mess with ghost hunters."

"They're not a huge threat right now," Jazz assured him. "They don't have functional ghost scanners—Phantom and I keep disabling them—so they won't find you unless anyone reports your presence. If you stick to quiet areas you'll be fine. The local woods nearby are very nice. If you want, I can show you around sometime?"

Sidney flushed dark gray again. "Well, I'm not sure…"

"It's no big deal. We can be friends, right, and that's what friends do. You're helping me out a ton with this, let me help you."

"Well, gosh." He scuffed his shoe on the floor, then looked back up to her if. "If you insist, I would love to make your acquaintance."

"Friends, then." She smiled at him, wide and bright. "Hey, I gotta go right now—I promised to train with Phantom. We can talk after school on Monday, find a good moment, if you want?"

"Ah. That would be… nice." Sidney smiled back, clearly uncertain. "See you on Monday, then?"

"Yeah! I put your mirror in my locker, by the way, so you should be safe to pass through it whenever you want." She started backing towards the doors, raising one hand to Sidney. "Bye, Sidney!"

"Goodbye, Jazz!" he said, hesitantly raising a hand as well.

* * *

"You don't believe me," Jazz said, incredulously.

"It's not that," Phantom quickly assured her, raising his hands. He was, as usual, in ghost form. "I'm just having some trouble imaging it. Sidney was always easily angered, and he never got over our first conflict."

"He seemed fine to me." She crossed her arms, staring down her alternate universe brother. "Very calm, very understanding."

Phantom blew out a breath, landing on the soft grass as well. "I mean, good for you! Don't get me wrong, I'm happy for you. I just… keep expecting things to go the same way for you as they did for me, even though you're a completely different person."

"Is that why you want to wait before telling me about Red, Danielle, and Plasmius?" She relaxed a little, cocking an eyebrow. "Because things go differently for me than they did for you?"

"Yeah, that, and I want to make sure none of the fundamental things are different in this universe." He gestured at himself, then at her. "After all, _something_ is different at the very base, with you being the younger sibling and the half-ghost around here."

"Fair enough," she admitted, dropping the tense posture altogether. "So you're alright with letting Sidney roam free?"

"Sure, why not? As long as he understands the dangers. And hopefully he'll keep a low profile for now, until Amity gets a little more familiar with ghosts."

"I warned him, at least." She hoped the same, though. At least Sidney looked rather disarming, as far as ghosts went. "And I promised to show him some quieter places, so he can go outside without being invisible or getting spotted."

Phantom nodded. "Clever. And who knows, maybe he can teach you a thing or two about ghost stuff as well."

"I thought _you_ were my ghost teacher?" She sniffed. "Unless you're going back on your words?"

"Honestly, I don't know all that much about ghost culture, and all that." Phantom shrugged, shooting her a sheepish smile. "I know how powers work, and I know how to fight. Mostly because those two are basically the same thing. But beyond that? My knowledge is pretty limited."

"Well, being able to defend myself is an important skill," she allowed. "Especially since not all ghosts will listen. Technus could've caused a lot of trouble if you hadn't been around to stop him."

"I like your approach, though." Phantom flew in closer, nudging her. "For the first few months, my answer to pretty much everything was to fight them. Seeing how you're doing, I can't imagine how many unnecessary enemies I made."

"I guess I have a good teacher to guide me." She leaned against him, her core stirring oddly in her chest. "I don't need to make enemies if you scare them off before I can fight them."

Phantom laughed, suddenly. "Are you just really good at guessing, or did you hear about Skulker?"

"Who?"

He laughed even harder, now, curling against her side. Whoever Skulker was, Phantom must've actually scared the guy off before she ever discovered he was around. Convenient, but it also made her very curious.

"Seriously, Phantom, who's Skulker?"

"I'll— tell you if it's— relevant," he managed between bouts of laughter. Wiping away a tear, he added, "I'm keeping— an eye on him."

She blew out a noisy breath. "Of _course_ you are."

* * *

Jazz riffled through a few more items, thanked the shopkeeper for their time, then moved on to the next stall. Danny—_her_ Danny—had invited her along to the Amity Park Swap Meet, and she had excitedly grabbed onto the opportunity. These days, she felt like she spent more time with Phantom than with her actual brother.

But the moment they had arrived, Danny has sought out Sam and Tucker, and had left her to fend for herself. Looking back, she probably should've expected as much, but still. Now she was here all alone, when looking through the stalls was way more fun with someone to joke around with.

She sighed, skipping over to the next stall. And her search was looking rather hopeless as well. She'd hoped to find something to give to Sidney, to thank him for helping her, but so far it didn't look great. She was pretty sure he was from the 50's, and stuff from that time… Well, there wasn't much she could find, anyhow.

Before she could consider the next stall, her core stirred to life, and she paused. Were her powers acting up?

Blue air wisped from her mouth, and she stifled a chagrined sigh. Nope. A ghost had come to mess up her nice weekend day.

Shouts sounded from nearby, and cursing, she ran to find a secluded spot. Hiding behind a few abandoned stalls, she tugged on her ghost core, shifting into Specter.

At the ghost wasn't too hard to find, floating high above the rapidly-emptying marketplace. Green-skinned like most ghosts, but with long black hair and clothes in purple and blue, her spectral tail languidly curled underneath her.

"Hey!" Jazz called as she flew in closer, drawing the ghost's attention. "Who are you, and why are you causing trouble?"

The ghost narrowed her red eyes at Jazz, pressing a dainty hand to her chest. "I am Desiree, the wishing ghost! I fulfill any wish I hear, including _yours_. Tell me, what is it you want most dearly?"

"Uh…" Jazz ground to a halt. "For you to… stop causing trouble?"

Desiree scoffed, lowering her hand. "Surely there must be something you wish for?" She flew closer, suddenly, curling around Jazz. "Something you… desire?"

"Get away from her!" A vivid green ecto-blast whizzed right by the two of them, and Desiree flinched away from Jazz. Before she could really process what was happening, Phantom was next to her, green energy coiling around his fists.

"Or what?" Desiree snarled back, pink energy whirling around her own hands. "Afraid that I might give her something you cannot? Afraid that you cannot chain her anymore?"

"What? No!" Phantom shook his head, gesturing over at her. "She's—"

"I'm his sister," she cut in, catching the hand aggravatedly gesturing at her. For some reason Desiree had gone on the defensive when Phantom had shown up, and whatever it was, she wanted her to calm down again. "Sorry, he's just really protective. Most ghosts tend to pick fights, you know, and I'm not a very good fighter just yet."

Phantom huffed, but didn't argue. His spectral tail lashed angrily, but he doused the ecto-blasts, at least.

"I… see." Desiree released her gathering energy as well, the pink dissipating. "I apologize."

"It's fine," Phantom said, unexpectedly, after shooting a short glance at Jazz. "You have a bad history with men, right? Of course you'd be suspicious. Plenty of terrible men walking around. I can… I can leave, if it helps?"

Clearly the suggestion was as surprising to Desiree as it was to her, as the ghost grew wide-eyed. After a moment of quiet, she shook her head. "No, it's… alright. You're clearly not the sort of person I thought you were."

Quiet fell, as Phantom and Desiree were looking at each other. They must've fought in Phantom's own world, Desiree's wariness of men causing a clash.

Which left her with a problem. Desiree implied that she _had_ to fulfill any wish she heard. If that was the case, she couldn't be left to her own devices. Who knew what kind of wishes people might utter, that she would be forced to fulfill. If only there was some way to… solve… that…

Oh. Duh.

"I have a wish, actually," she said, drawing the attention back to her. Phantom made a face that said, very clearly, _'don't do it'_.

"Do you?" Desiree shifted, her jewelry melodiously clinking together. "What is it then, young ghost?"

Next to her, Phantom started gesturing even more clearly, but she ignored him. He had admitted that he had fought every ghost he had encountered. This, right here? This was _her_ expertise.

"I wish you could _chose_ to fulfill wishes, rather than being forced to fulfill any wish you hear."

"Oh," Desiree said, blankly. She raised a hand, almost automatically, pink energy coiling around it. "As you have wished it, so shall it be."

The energy washed over them, then pulled back onto itself, coursing through Desiree. She blinked, almost as if surprised by the event. Looked down at her hands. Then at Jazz.

"What…?" she asked, like she was still trying to process something she had done automatically. "I— You—"

"I wished for you to be free to fulfill wishes, rather than forced to." Next to her, Phantom made a shocked noise. "That's… That wasn't wrong, was it? I thought— You looked so unhappy, but…"

"No, no, I— Thank you." Desiree smiled, uncertainly, wavering. "You have done me a great kindness. How could I possibly hope to repay this?"

"You don't have to." Jazz flapped a hand, waving off the offer. "I—_we—_protect this town, yes, but that isn't limited to the humans. If ghosts come here, hurting or upset, we help them too. Right, Phantom?"

"I— Yes." He nodded, maybe a little too forceful to be natural. "Yeah, like she said. We're happy to help however we can, Desiree."

"That is unexpected kind of you." Desiree's gaze drifted from Jazz to Phantom. "Both of you. I'll take my leave now, but, with your permission, I would love to return at a later moment."

"Of course," Jazz assured her before Phantom could say otherwise. "This was one of the first times the city saw ghosts, so the ghost hunters might become more active after this, so I don't know if it'll be _safe_ to visit, but we're fine with it. Right, Phantom?"

"Yeah, exactly. Any ghost that isn't causing trouble is welcome in Amity Park."

"In that case, I would love to take you up on that offer." She smiled, kinder this time, more sure of herself. "Perhaps I can repay your kindness next time. For now, I must go. Goodbye, you two."

They waved goodbye as Desiree faded from visibility, leaving just the two half-ghosts hovering in the air.

"Well," Danny said, breaking the silence. "Guess that the cat's out of the bag now. Amity definitely knows about ghosts now."

"At least she didn't cause any major damage?" Jazz looked down at the abandoned marketplace, but whatever Desiree had done to cause the initial panic, she must've undone it before she left. "Could've been worse."

* * *

From here on out, Jazz is mostly gonna refer to alternate universe Danny as Phantom, mostly because it got real confusing otherwise. Just fyi! It should be clear enough within in the fic's context, but I figured I would make note of it as well.  
Also look! Jazz is making some well-deserved friends! I'm still kinda waffling on how I write Sidney, because I can't write old-timey English, but that won't stop me from adding him. He makes such a good match for Jazz, it would be a crime not to make them friends in this AU.

This chapter was kinda long, but next week's is probably gonna be shorter again. I gotta run the entire thing through a good round of editing, but it probably won't come to the 5k of this chapter and the one after. Which is, y'know, normal for chaptered fics and stories, but still. Figured I would give a head's up.

Next week, chapter 5: Bitter Reunions


	5. Bitter Reunions

"So, kids…"

Jazz looked up from the dinner she was definitely _not_ shoveling into her mouth—she might be starving but she wasn't an _animal—_and up at her mom. Beside her, Danny hummed an acknowledgment.

"This weekend an old friend of ours is hosting a college reunion," Maddie continued, having successfully grabbed the attention. "It's all the way in Wisconsin, so we'll be on the road for a few days."

"Okay, and?" Danny asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. "We're old enough to take care of ourselves for a few days."

Maddie frowned. Disappointed? Oh, of course. She was hoping to bring them along, make it a family thing.

"Sounds interesting," Jazz said. "We wouldn't miss any school if we come with, right?"

Danny shot her an offended look but, well. She'd _tried_ to do more stuff together, just recently, and he'd left her alone at the Swap Meet. By now, she was spending more time with Danny from a different universe than her own brother, and honestly? That couldn't continue.

"No, it's a long weekend. We will have to spend one night in the GAV— the RV, Vlad gave us permission to arrive early, so we can sleep the other two nights there."

"And we'll drive home in one go!" her dad cheerily added, a bright grin on his face. "Ah, I can't wait to see Vladdie again!"

"Well, I would _love_ spend more time together as a family! And meeting your college buddies sounds like fun, too! Right, Danny?" She turned around, offering him her biggest, teariest eyes. Just because she was _usually_ above begging didn't mean she didn't know how to do it. So sue her for pulling out the big guns, this was important!

Her brother grumbled and huffed a little longer, trying to dodge her eyes, but finally caved. "Yeah, sure. Sounds… great. Can't wait."

Their parents didn't hear the reluctant tone—or completely ignored it—because both shot them grateful smiles.

Now she just had to talk to Phantom to make sure he would keep an eye on Amity for her.

* * *

Danny stretched out, lazily, staring up at the emerging night sky. He appreciated Jazz' help, letting him sleep in her room while she was away, but as a result he'd become practically nocturnal. Not that he was that far off, back home, but still…

At least he got to enjoy the night sky while waiting for night to pass. And there were plenty of ghosts out at night—something he already knew from experience.

A light flashed, and Danny wrenched his head towards it, surprised. His core thrummed, picking up on an increase in ectoplasm. Had Jazz shifted to her ghost form? Why?

She became visible next to him on the roof, and Danny pushed himself up into a sitting position.

"What's up, Jazz?" Surely nothing could be wrong? He didn't think there were any major ghosts happening right now, but, well. It wasn't like he'd kept a close record of when he'd fought which ghost.

"Nothing much," she assured him, shooting him a soothing smile. Clearly she'd already caught onto his instant protective paranoia. "But Mom and Dad are planning on taking us on a road trip this weekend, and…"

"And you didn't want to assume I could keep an eye on the city? Sure, Jazz, I can handle it for you." He shrugged easily, grinning at her. "I handled it for two years back home, I can handle it for a weekend here. What're you guys gonna do?"

"Some college reunion," she said, and, oh. Was that now? Good lord, and he hadn't even done any research on Vlad. How could he have screwed that up?

Jazz narrowed her eyes at him, the gold flaring brighter. "What's wrong with that? Is something going to happen?"

"I… don't know," he admitted, slowly. "Who's hosting it? Vlad Masters?"

She nodded. "I believe so. Why?"

He considered his options. He didn't want her involved with Vlad, with his mess, but… well, he couldn't protect her forever. Even if he wasn't sure if it _was_ Vlad in this universe, better safe than sorry, right?

"He's… In my universe, Vlad Masters is also a half-ghost."

Jazz stilled, eyes big and surprised. "What?" she managed, after a long silence. "How— _What_?"

Danny laughed, a little, humorlessly. "Yeah, I know. He was part of the ghost hunting club in college, together with our parents. When they built the Proto Portal, it blew up in his face. Gave him terrible ecto-acne, and later, made him half-ghost."

He shook his head. "But I don't know if that's true for this universe as well. I know there's another half-ghost around, equivalent to him. I've run into a few ghosts they hired, but none of them told me if they were hired by Plasmius or not."

"Plasmius?" Jazz repeated, cautiously. "Let me guess, that's _his_ ghost name? What does that even reference, plasma?"

"Don't know, don't care." He flapped a hand. "If Vlad is half-ghost in this universe, he's bad news, Jazz. He's obsessed. In my universe, he's in love with Mom—has been since college. And he blames Dad for stealing her away, and for the accident. After he discovered I was a half-ghost, during the reunion… Well, let's just say it wasn't any good."

"I… see." Jazz seemed to contemplate all this new information for a moment, then straightened her shoulders. "Well, I'll just be ready, then. Tell me everything you remember."

"Are you sure?" He frowned, meeting her eyes. "Things might be different in this universe."

"That's fine." She stared back, determination clear in her eyes. "I'll keep my family safe."

* * *

Jazz woke up in the middle of the night, cold pouring from her core and misting from her mouth. She groaned, but somewhere, she'd already expected it. Danny—Phantom—had told her that it had happened during his first night in Vlad's mansion. And even if _he_ had doubted that things would play out the same between their worlds, she had expected it.

But that also meant that Vlad Plasmius, half-ghost, had sent vicious vulture ghosts after her dad, and that really couldn't be borne.

She let her core take over, energy pouring over her body as she shifted to her ghost form. The room around her came into sharp and clear relief—she could see in the dark as Specter. Turning herself invisible, she flew through the door, easily spotting her dad lumbering through the halls.

The vulture ghosts, hovering around him, were even more noticeable. Their glows weren't particularly bright, but in the dark they were plenty clear.

Channeling energy into her fist, she shot off a blast of golden energy at the first. There was no point in capturing them, she just needed to scare them off.

The other two took offense, but instead of waiting for them to attack, she dove through the floor. She needed to take this fight away from her dad, especially if Plasmius was going to show up.

One of the vultures dove after her, talons reaching out towards her. She dodged it, barely, then sent a blast after it for good measure. The other came up from her side, likely hoping to catch her off-guard. Instead it caught an ecto-blast as well.

The three vultures regrouped in front of her, blocking the hallway in its entirety. They loomed over her. Then, suddenly, they glanced past her and darted away.

"Oh boy," she whispered, turning to look behind her as well. Must be Plasmius, if the vultures fled.

In the hallways hovered another ghost, humanoid with blue skin. His eyes were blank and deep red, his black hair swept up into two—somewhat ridiculous—points. His outfit was a mix of white and crimson red, bar his black gloves and shoes. His cape flapped, stirred by a non-existent wind.

His glow was bright enough to light the direct area around him.

Phantom really hadn't downplayed how strong Vlad Plasmius was.

The half-ghost cocked his head at her, narrowing his eyes. Then he grinned at her, revealing vampire-like fangs. "My vultures were supposed to bring the big idiot to me, but you'll do! A little intruder, aren't you?"

Cold crept down her spine. "I don't want to fight."

"No," he said simply, still grinning. "No, you don't."

Magenta ectoplasm burst into existence around his hands. He fired a blast at Jazz, too quickly for her to dodge.

She slammed against the wall, grunting. "I'm serious! I don't want to fight!"

"Should've thought of that _before_ you broke in, hmm?" The grin had disappeared from Vlad's face, but the ectoplasm hadn't gone. He fired another blast, quickly followed by a third.

Jazz swore, dodging the first but getting hit by the latter. She rolled over the floor, hitting the wall harder than she'd hoped.

Vlad was coming closer again, the charged ecto-blasts casting sharp lights on his face. "I'm not big on trespassing little ghosts, you see," he said, the threat clear in his voice.

"Yeah, well—" She pushed herself up onto her feet again, meeting his eyes. "I'm not just any ghost!"

And, against all common sense, she loosened her grip on her ghost core. Bright lights swam through the hallways, leaving her standing there in her pajamas. Human once more.

The other half-ghost halted in his steps, clearly startled. He opened his mouth, closed it again, then shook his head.

Without saying another word, Vlad suddenly dissolved into pink smoke.

"Oh," she said, simply. Poked her ghost core a little, but she wasn't picking up on any traces of ghosts anymore. He must've left.

She shifted back into her ghost form, coasting back to her bed. Somehow, she'd made it through the confrontation with Vlad without getting the stuffing beat out of her.

Tomorrow, she would have to confront him anyway, she knew. If she didn't, he would come to her. Maybe she could talk to him, show him the right way?

* * *

"Vlad," she said when she saw Vlad, the next day.

"Jasmine," he greeted back, inclining his head slightly. That seemed to be the end of it, however. No attempt to reference last night, even though no one else was around.

Instead of pushing him, however, she took a bite of her food. Vlad acted uninterested, but she caught him glancing over at her, repeatedly. What, did he not realize she knew who he was? Was he trying to find the best way to approach this?

"What are you looking at?" she asked, finally, tone carefully polite. "Do I have something on my face?"

Vlad looked startled—at being addressed?—but his expression smoothed over quickly. "No, my dear, there's nothing."

She hummed, a note of disbelief clearly audible. Took another bite. Would he comment on his own, or was she going to have to take lead here?

Apparently so, because Vlad remained silent. Man, were all adults this dysfunctional or something?

"Would you mind _not_ staring, then?" She took another bite, chewing quickly. "I'm not stupid, you know?"

"Ah…" He shifted, clearly uncertain but trying to cover it up and appear suave. She hadn't been able to see how _the_ Vlad Masters might've spent time with her parents, in college, but she was starting to see it now. They shared that same disastrous way of dealing with people. And an interest in ghosts, apparently. "It is nothing, Jasmine."

"Stop calling me that," she scoffed, turning to him instead of her food. "My name is Jazz, or Specter. And _your_ name is Plasmius, isn't it?"

He stiffened, clearly caught off-guard. "Excuse me?" he tried, feebly. It wasn't very convincing.

"Oh, come on." She shook her head, abandoning her meal. "We ran into each other last night. I shifted back to human form, you left, and now you're pretending you weren't that half-ghost I ran into. But I'm not an idiot, _Vlad_."

Vlad grumbled, his eyes flashing red for just a brief moment, before he composed himself. Straightened his clothes, put on a whole show and everything. "Yes, clearly I underestimated your intelligence. I apologize, my dear girl. But, as you've likely discovered already, our kind are rare beyond words."

Well, that much was true, at least. The only one she knew besides the two of them came from a different universe altogether.

"Yeah, I've noticed," she allowed, mellowing herself out a little. He was aggravating, yes, but if she could get him to _not_ be a huge ghostly villain…

He was looking at her, eyes narrowed. Like he was thinking about something, or eyeing her up. Or both, who knew?

"You are young still, Jasmine," he finally said, and _darnit_. Again with the 'Jasmine' thing? Couldn't he just use her name like everyone else? "Just fourteen, aren't you? Too young to drive, and not even in college yet?"

And there were the alarm bells! Hello, what did it matter?

"So?" she bit back, not as venomously as she wanted to. "So what if I'm just fourteen?"

Vlad clicked his tongue, giving her a disappointed shake of his head. "What does it matter? You want me to let you run off all alone, stumbling through your adolescence, desperately trying to get control of your powers? Powers, by the way, that I've had for twenty years."

He flashed his eyes red, meaningfully. Jazz didn't budge. What was he trying to prove?

"I have experience, my child." Vlad's eyes faded back to their usual blue, and he folded his hands behind himself. Set himself back into that stoic posture he kept showing. Like he had to show off his big mature adult-ness to convince her. "I could train you, teach you everything I know. And all you'd have to do, is renounce your idiot father."

The gaze he set upon her was expectant, heavy.

She snorted.

"Yeah, as if." Jazz stood up from her seat, flashing her eyes at him. "I already have a teacher, and his price is far more reasonable than yours. Stay away from my family, _Plasmius_, and I'll keep your secret."

Apparently this had been the wrong thing to say, because he hissed, sharp and inhuman. His eyes went red, and this time, they didn't fade easily.

Jazz could feel the increase of ectoplasm in her core before it became visible to her eyes. Energy sparked over Vlad's skin, coalescing in crackling rings of energy. They managed, somehow, to simultaneously be pure black and lanced through with white lightning.

Plasmius had grabbed her before she could even seriously consider shifting as well, phasing her through several walls. She struggled in his grasp, but his black-gloved fingers were like vices. There was no getting out.

He dumped her on a hard metal floor. She took the moment of respite to investigate the area. Metal floors, walls, ceiling, tables… a lab? It made sense that Vlad had one, too, but still. Why would he take her here?

An odd sound, like metal scratching metal, drew her attention back to Vlad. She scolded herself inwardly for getting distracted so easily, looking at the other half-ghost.

"Why—" she started to say, and then the cube he'd slid over at her activated.

The metal expanded, suddenly, locking her in the now-hollow cube. Only her head remained free, and no wrenching seemed to loosen the plates again.

"You can wait here," Vlad said, his voice flat and cold. "We'll see how you feel about my proposal once your father is out of the way."

Her eyes snapped back up to his face, and he looked… he looked deadly serious.

"You can't!" she shouted at him, grasping for her core even when she knew it would be futile. "Vlad, you can't! If you kill him— everyone will know! They'll know, and they'll never forgive you! Not me, not Danny, and definitely not my Mom!"

"Oh, what do you know," he scoffed, grabbing the edge of his cape. He swept it over himself, his body dissolving into pink smoke in the same motion.

Gone. He'd left, just like that.

Now they were really in for it.

* * *

Energy poured from her core, down her arm, and into the palm of her hand. The ecto-blast that formed was bright, casting golden light over the steadily darkening clearing.

"I'm just— _frustrated_, you know?" she said as she fired the blast. The rock she was aiming for shattered on impact, debris scattering throughout the clearing.

"You did fine, Jazz." Phantom floated up next to her, sending her a soft look. "Seriously, Vlad is a jerk. There's nothing you can do about that, not really. I mean, I made a deal with the guy, and he didn't bother to stick to that, either."

She huffed out an annoyed breath. "I know… I'm just— Ugh."

Phantom laughed, his glow flickering briefly. "Yeah, he has that effect on people."

"I guess I just worry." Jazz lowered her eyes, watching her boots scuff the ground. "I mean, I turned down his offer just like you did, but what if that still changes things? The reason for turning him down, and stuff?"

"I wouldn't worry too much about it." Phantom nudged her, drawing her eyes back up to him. "We'll handle whatever he does next, okay? Besides, the Dairy King freed you, and you fought Plasmius. Sounds like things played out pretty much the same as they did for me."

Jazz hummed, watching Phantom's hair drift in the wind. She'd known him for a few weeks already, yet his appearance remained unusual to her. But, then, her own ghost form was still odd to her, as well.

"Really, Jazz, don't worry so much about it," Phantom continued, landing on the ground next to her. "I had kind of expected it already. You can't change every ghost's mind, and Vlad is unusually stubborn. Besides…"

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, suddenly, drawing her in closer. For a moment she considered resisting, but then she melted against his side. He was a little cooler than her actual brother, but that was just the effect of his ghost form, she knew.

"It's not your fault that Vlad became a bad guy, okay?" Phantom told her, quietly. "You're just fourteen, Jazz, no matter how mature you are. You can't be responsible for the whole world—no one can. Hell, no one _should be_, either. Don't put that sort of burden on your shoulders, okay?"

"Okay," she echoed. It felt like the vice around her chest—the vice she hadn't even realized was there—had loosened a little. "Sorry."

Phantom scoffed. "Don't be sorry about having _emotions_, Jazz. Seriously, if you ever have trouble—ghost-related or not—come talk to me. I care about you, you know?"

She felt the corners of her mouth twitch up.

"I know."

The moment was then promptly interrupted as blue mist wafted from both of their mouths.

"Oh, come on!" Phantom grumbled, ruffling her hair as he pulled away. "Really? Now, of all moments?"

"These ghosts have no manners," she quipped back, grinning a little. "Should we go teach them some?"

"Yeah, let's." He pushed himself off of the ground, and she rushed to keep up.

* * *

This chapter was just cursed from front to back. I knew what I wanted from it, and I like it, but it just wouldn't happen. I wrote it over the course of two (very hectic) weeks, and ended up with a chapter half as long as the ones before and after it, so I figured I would just flesh it out a little more when I went to edit it. Which of course meant that I didn't sleep_ at all_ last night and I can barely string together a functional sentence, so. Whoopsie! Anyway I stuck the first scene of Chapter 6 onto the end so now we're at a respectable 3k anyway (and it works better for story flow, anyway).

As for Bitter Reunions... That final fight pretty much played out like canon, tbh. And I just really didn't want to write that fight-I'm not too big on writing fight scenes in general-so I just... skipped around it.  
Also I know that people were trying to figure out how Phantom could be brought to Vlad's mansion, but honestly, why would they? They weren't even sure that Vlad was the older half-ghost in this universe, and Jazz' approach to these sort of things is "if Danny could handle it in his universe, I can handle it in mine". So, the best possible option was for Danny/Phantom to stay in Amity, where he could A) keep the city safe from invading ghosts, and B) where Vlad wouldn't learn about him and he could remain a secret weapon of sorts. It's not a flawless reasoning, but hey, they're 14 and 16. They ain't perfect!

Next week, chapter 6: My Sister's Keeper


	6. My Sister's Keeper

The new counselor stood outside her office, grinning brightly at the waiting students. Jazz watched her, eyes narrowed, cold air pouring from her lungs.

Something about this new counselor was off. She knew it in her gut, but no matter how she tried, she couldn't figure out _what_, exactly, was wrong. Penelope was oddly cheery, yes, and seemed to take the news of ghosts very well. But that couldn't be why Jazz had such a bad feeling about her, could it?

"Who's she?" Sidney's disembodied voice asked, quietly. Quiet enough for bystanders to miss. He hadn't startled her—her ghost sense had warned her beforehand, as usual.

"Penelope Spectra," she explained to him, equally soft. "She's the new counselor."

"Huh." Cold fingers wisped over her shoulders, like the ghost was shifting to peek over her shoulders. Like he wanted her protection against Penelope. "She… looks familiar."

"She does?" That was odd. Penelope couldn't possible be from Sidney's time—there was no way she was that old. And he didn't leave the school, so where else could he have seen her? "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely positive." He paused for a brief moment, and the two of them watched as the counselor entered her office again, tailing a student. "I just… can't remember from where."

"It's odd either way." Jazz shifted her backpack onto her shoulders properly, dislodging Sidney's barely-there touch. "Something weird is going on, and I don't like it."

Sidney clicked his tongue, then poked her, gently. "Maybe you should ask Phantom? If your worlds are so similar, surely he'll know who she is?"

"Yeah, I think I will." It wasn't one of their training days, but he wouldn't be that hard to find. Probably. "I'll go do that. Thanks for the idea, Sidney."

"Yeah, no prob." He patted her on the shoulder, encouragingly. "I don't trust her either. She's… dangerous, I think."

Jazz nodded in his direction. He felt it, too. It was all the proof she needed, really.

She raced home, speeding up the stairs and into her room in record time. Phantom, lying on her bed in his human form, startled visibly.

"Jazz?" he asked, lowering his voice—in case anyone else was around, probably. "What's wrong? Why are you in such a rush?"

"There's a new counselor," she started explaining, hurriedly. "There's something suspicious about her, I think. Do you know anything about Penelope Spectra?"

Phantom froze. His shoulders drew up, tense.

Then, suddenly, he swore. Loudly.

She started, backing up a step. Or two. Phantom didn't seem to notice, anyway, caught up in his anger.

"God _dammit_," he growled, under his breath. "How could I forget? This is right about the same time as when she came to Casper High in _my_ timeline. _Fuck!_"

"So she's bad?" Jazz guessed, feebly. She'd already suspected that Penelope was bad news, but what could've driven Phantom to react so explosively? Not even Vlad had brought out such a bad reaction.

Phantom snarled, heaving for breath. His fingers were buried deep in his hair, disappearing in the black locks. His eyes shone bright and green, unnatural and off in his human face.

"The _worst_," he finally managed, voice low and grim. "She's a ghost, feeding on people's negative emotions. Their fear, especially. She's a walking nightmare—finds your deepest fears and digs into them. All your worries, your insecurities, your doubts. She weaponizes them, turns your mind against you."

He scoffed. "And her touch worsens it, as well. She'll dig her claws into you, and down the depressive spiral you go."

"Oh…" That was… a lot worse than she'd expected. Why hadn't Jazz— oh. She'd thought that it was _Sidney_ who kept setting off her ghost sense, but it must've been Penelope. Spectra? "We need to stop her, then!"

"We can't fight her." He lunged over to her, grabbing her by the shoulder. Shook her a little. "Seriously, Jazz, listen to me. We can't fight her head-on."

"So then what?" She swatted his hand off of her shoulder. "You want me to ignore her presence in the school? Let her leech off of everyone else's fear, worries, doubts?"

Phantom shot her an offended look. The green leeched out of his eyes, returning them to their original blue. "Of course not! Of course we'll take her out, Jazz, but we can't fight her."

"Well, how did _you_ take her out, then?"

"I—" He sighed, then sat down on her bed again. "I didn't. Not really. I tried to, but she pinned me down. Got her claws in me, and I couldn't throw her off again. She sapped all my strength away, all my confidence. She would've killed me, Jazz."

"What… what happened?" How was he still here, then? He must've won somehow, right? They just had to do that!

The look he threw at her was sad. Sad, and reminiscent. "Jazz saved me. She stormed in with the Fenton Ghost Peeler. Took down Spectra in one hit. With her claws off of me, I got enough sense in me to use the Thermos and catch her."

"Alright, well— We'll just have to skip some of that!" They couldn't use the Peeler—it didn't work for half-ghosts, and she didn't trust her parents not to go for _them_ instead of Spectra. But that was fine! "We can't fight Spectra, sure, but we don't have to! I can go through the teachers to get her fired, and then— then— um…"

"And then we'll ambush her," Phantom finished, his eyes flashing green for just a brief moment. Like courage had flooded back into him. "She won't be expecting us, not so quickly. We'll ambush her with Thermoses, catch her before she can attack anyone."

"Yeah!" She nodded. "We'll take her out, just like that!"

* * *

"Mr. Lancer," Jazz started, softening her posture as much as she could. She needed him to listen to her pleas. "Could I talk to you about the new school counselor?"

"Of course." He frowned a little, a crease in his brow. "What is wrong, Miss Fenton?"

"I…" She licked her lips, suddenly nervous. Her entire plan with Phantom hinged on her managing this. She couldn't be too direct, but not too gentle, either. "I don't think she's very good at her job."

"Oh?" The crease in Lancer's brow deepened. "I assure you, Jazz, she has very good credentials. Lots of praise for her work."

Yeah, praise no doubt acquired by overshadowing her superiors. The advantages of being a ghost, huh?

"Yes, well— I don't know, Mr. Lancer. It just seems to me that things aren't getting better." She turned her gaze downwards. "Is it really necessary to have her around?"

Lancer sighed, deep and heavy. He looked a little pained, and Jazz felt sorry for doing this to him, but… it was necessary. For the greater good.

If he knew what Spectra was, what she did, he would've agreed.

"Things have been hard for a lot of people in this city recently, as I'm sure you know," Lancer started explaining. "Your parents are no doubt excited about the… the ghosts, but they are among the few. And with the violence, the fact that these ghosts are attacking people in the city…"

"Not all of them," Jazz interrupted, automatically. She heard it so much at home. How Specter and Phantom were just like all the other ghosts, fighting over territory or whatever. The leading theory changed almost daily, but one thing remained the same; her parents always thought she was as malevolent as every other ghost.

"No, not every ghost," Lancer agreed lightly, to Jazz' surprise. He ignored her wide-eyed look. "But enough ghosts are. Even if those other two fight the others off, that's still worrying to people. Death has always been a scary thing. To know that the dead remain, might come back as ghosts…"

She could imagine. Despite her parents, she'd always been hesitant to believe that ghosts were real. That the dead could come back in the form of malevolence given a physical form.

"I understand," she told Lancer. "But I don't think Spectra is the right person for this. Since she started here I've seen more and more people getting upset, and hurt."

Lancer's eyes narrowed. "You cannot be suggesting that our new counselor is making people feel worse, Jasmine. Of course the number of people upset by what is happening is increasing; more and more we become aware of the ghosts haunting the city."

"Yes, I get that. But none of the people she has talked to have gotten better." Jazz carded a hand through her hair, forcing herself to calm down. She couldn't get too upset. Couldn't flash her eyes. If she did, there was no way of recovering this conversation, or the plan as a whole. "In fact, every single person she's met with seemed to have gotten _worse_. They walk out of her room completely miserable. Surely that can't be right?"

"No, I would imagine not," Lancer admitted, slowly, clearly reluctant. "But I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary—no one has."

She opened her mouth, but Lancer held up a silencing hand and continued. "Although I suppose something might've been missed. There has been a lot going on, recently, with the ghost attacks, and the preparations for those. I will keep a closer eye on Penelope, and on the students she attends to. Okay?"

"Yeah." She grinned, hesitantly. "Thank you, Mr. Lancer."

"Of course. It's my job as vice principal to make sure any concerns are dealt with." He softened visibly, smiling back. "Anything else?"

"No, I'm good." She grabbed her backpack. "See you tomorrow, Mr. Lancer!"

* * *

Cold burst from Jazz' core, and she paused in the hallway. Ran a quick calculation in her head; where in the school was she, and what were the chances that this was Sidney?

Low, she decided, and turned around to look for the spectral intruder.

Mr. Lancer stood next to Spectra, talking in front of her office. Her assistant—apparently ghostly counselors had those—stood next to her, an unhappy expression on his face.

Wait. Was she getting fired?

Yeah, it definitely seemed that way. Well, shoot. She needed to get out there with Phantom and a Thermos immediately.

She rushed off, speeding towards an abandoned part of the school without seeming suspicious. Cold wisped from her mouth again on the way, and, hoping, she asked, "Sidney?"

"You're in a rush," he replied, and she thanked her lucky stars that it _was_ him. "What's going on, Jazz?"

"Spectra's getting fired," she said, as rushed as she was feeling. "I need you to find Phantom and tell him."

"Yessir." The cold feeling left almost as soon as he'd said it, and Jazz continued on. She just hoped they were quick enough. Surely Spectra would hold off for longer? She wasn't much of a fighter, was she?

Jazz ducked into an abandoned bathroom, pulling on her core the moment the door closed. Hurry hurry _hurry_.

Light flashed and she went from walking to flying in one smooth step, phasing through the walls. Belatedly she turned herself invisible as well, racing back towards the front of the school.

No Spectra, and no assistant. Where could they have gone? She went further up, hoping to spot the two, dropping her invisibility along the way.

Her ghost sense went off again, and she jerked. Sidney became visible, Phantom right on his tail.

"Oh," she said, extinguishing the ecto-blast she didn't even realize she had formed. "Thanks for getting him, Sidney."

"Yeah, no prob." He nodded to her. "I'm leaving. Good luck with the counselor, Jazz."

He flew off before she could reply. In his wake, Phantom started peering around.

"I don't know where she went," Jazz admitted. "I had to go pretty far away to find a quiet spot to transform. Now what?"

"I'm… not sure." Tension was clearly visible in Phantom's shoulders, the tight coiling of his muscles. "We need to find her before she—"

A scream.

Both she and Phantom whirled towards the sound. Without discussion they both knew what to do, speeding towards it.

The street was filled with panicking people, screaming and shouting and— and all kinds of chaos. A bright green ghost bounced around, keeping the crowd from escaping. It was almost like a fluid, how easily it changed shapes. From a shapeless blob to a wolf to a ninja and then back again.

And, above it all, the ghost in charge. Entirely black, appearance flickering unsteadily like flames, bar her terrifyingly sharp talon-like fingers. Her eyes were the only points of color; bright red like embers, and completely empty.

Spectra, and her assistant, Bertrand.

"Fuck, we're too late," Phantom swore, dropping to a roof nearby. Neither of the ghosts had seen them yet. "There's no way we can get them in a Thermos now; the fear of those people is making Spectra too powerful."

"So now what?" Jazz hissed back, hunkering down as well. "I thought we stood no chance in a direct fight?"

"Well, we have no other choice." His bright green eyes darted to her, then to Spectra, and then down to Bertrand. "We need to free the civilians, but if we focus exclusively on them, Spectra will slaughter us. I'll distract her, you get Bertrand."

"_What_? Phantom, I thought she was—"

"Dangerous? Yeah, but I'll stand a better chance than you." He grabbed her shoulder, shooting her something that was probably supposed to be a reassuring smile. "Get Bertrand, and then we'll get Spectra together. It'll be okay—I've fought her before."

"And _lost_," she said, but he'd already turned around and, in that moment, kicked off from the roof.

God, was her actual brother as bull-headed as this version, or was that a half-ghost thing?

No point in fighting it, now. The only thing she could was take out Bertrand as quickly as she could.

She dove off of the roof, towards the crowd that Bertrand was circling. Above her, she heard Phantom yell out.

"Hey, Spectra! Thought you were more of the prying type? What happened, huh?"

Bertrand paused where he was circling, looking up towards Phantom. Jazz risked a glance as well; Phantom had paused near Spectra, but out of her reach.

The other ghost scoffed, cocking her head at Phantom. "Shows what _you_ know, hmm? What is the point of spending such efforts acquiring bits of negative emotions when I can just knock them free in one go!"

Jazz twisted in her dive, angling herself slightly. Bertrand was still staring up. Just a little more…

She hit the ghost with an enormous impact. Wrapped her arms around his waist—or what passed for his waist—and physically dragged him away from the crowd. They screamed and yelled as she sped past, but she ignored it.

Bertrand growled, becoming almost liquid-like in her arms. Slipped out like it was nothing. He landed back on the ground, shifting into a wolf-like appearance. Bared his teeth at her.

Jazz landed as well, boots noiselessly touching down. Golden ecto-blasts formed in her hands with a mere thought.

"Oh, look at the little ghost girl," the wolf taunted, through its sharp teeth. "Do you really think you stand a chance?"

She stamped down on the self-doubt. Don't listen to him. Don't worry about it. Just do your best.

The first ecto-blast went flying, but Bertrand dodged easily.

"What's this?" he continued to jeer, landing easily. "Can't find your words? Do you know, deep inside, that you really can't win?"

"Got better things to do than listen to your idiocy," she snarled back, firing two more blasts. Bertrand's form loosened like slime, easily twisting around the two blasts.

"Is that so?" His voice was as slimy as his body, his words as sharp as his teeth. "Like attend to your floundering grades? Or perhaps engage with all those friends of yours? Ah, or were you planning to spend more time with your oh-so lovely parents?"

She growled, firing two more blasts. This time, however, she sped in after them.

Bertrand dodged the two orbs of golden energy, twisting to smirk in her direction. In the direction where she'd been.

Jazz crashed into him at full speed, released another ecto-blast directly against his center. It exploded, the blast of energy knocking them apart again.

They both rolled over the street, and Jazz groaned. Alright, maybe that didn't quite work out as planned. She pushed herself up on her hands, glancing over to Bertrand.

Gone.

Uh oh.

The green wolf crashed into her with force, straight towards one of the buildings lining the street. He'd probably planned to pin her against the wall, but she turned herself intangible—and him as well.

A bounce over the hard tiled floor. She tried to continue the momentum in a roll, but Bertrand pinned her down, paws on her wrists.

"You think you're such a hero, don't you?" he jeered, sharp teeth inches from her face. His breath stunk of ectoplasm; copper and citrus. "Such a mature little girl, saving the town all on her own?"

She kneed him right in the leg. Bertrand sunk down, and she pushed him off the rest of the way. Rolled up into a crouch.

"You're an idiot if you think I'm alone," she snapped back, reaching for her Thermos while Bertrand was down. "The two of you aren't the only partnered ghosts in this city."

Bertrand shifted back into his base form, lunging for her with arms outreached. This time she was ready for him, however.

The Thermos whirled to life, its blue vortex catching one of Bertrand's arms.

"No!" he yelled, twisting around himself like he was trying to wrench himself free. "You— You two stand no chance against her!"

Jazz opened her mouth to snark back, but realized, too late—

It was a distraction.

The ecto-blast, as green as Phantom's, hit her right in the chest.

She crashed back against the wall. Her head cracked against the hard surface, and her vision blackened briefly. Pain wracked through her, sharp and piercing.

Her core thumped in her chest. She could taste the ectoplasm in the air decreasing. Bertrand might've landed a last hit, but he hadn't gotten away.

Her core thumped again.

Jazz jerked where she sat, opened her eyes—when had she closed them? Her hands clawed towards her chest, to the steady thumping.

She caught sight of her clothes—the long black sleeves, bare hands, blue jeans. The tension leeched out again, a brief sigh of relief.

The thumping wasn't her core at all. It was just her heart. Its pounding echoed in her head, a dull thrum.

No time to rest, though. She had taken out Bertrand, but Phantom was gonna need all the help he could get to take down Spectra. She could deal with the headache—and the other pains—later.

Light flashed as she shifted back to Specter, the blinding light briefly aggravating her headache. The Thermos laid still in the center of the room, and she dragged herself back over to it. Swept it off the ground easily, capped it, put it back on her belt.

"And now for the really bad one," she said. Her stomach twisted. She didn't want to, but she had no choice. She _had_ to. It was her responsibility. Phantom was relying on her. _Amity_ was relying on her.

A door creaked, and Jazz startled out of her thoughts.

Danny stood in the opening, blue eyes large, sweat beading over his skin. Was this her actual brother? He hadn't seen, had he?

"Specter!" he shouted when his eyes landed on her. "You need to get out there! The other ghost, he needs you!"

That was a yes on the brother thing, and a no on having seen her shift. Good.

Wait.

"Shit," she swore, pushing off the ground. What they really needed was… "We need more firepower!"

She phased through the wall, back into the open air. The street had been abandoned, all civilians having fled when she had drawn Bertrand away. Spectra had pinned Phantom against a building, green energy coiling around them. She couldn't tell whose it was.

A blast of golden energy knocked Spectra off of Phantom as Jazz sped in closer. "Get away from him!"

"What's this?" Deep black shifted like flame, the pits of red turning back to Jazz. Spectra grinned at her, and Jazz could feel the shivers crawl down her spine. "Come to offer yourself up as well, little girl? Thought you could succeed where _he_ can't?"

"We're a team," she growled back, pouring as much energy into her fists as she could. "I don't need to be better than him at all."

"Oh, please," Spectra chattered, a tone like laughter in her voice. "Like either of you really—"

A green explosion knocked her out of the air entirely. Spectra crashed down on the street, leaving Phantom hovering in her place.

"She really doesn't know when to stop talking," he growled, the last traces of ectoplasm misting away from his hand. His eyes flicked away from their opponent and to Jazz, briefly. "Are you okay?"

Not really. Her head was killing her. She hadn't felt such pain since the accident.

"I will be," she said instead of expressing any of that. "I got Bertrand in the Thermos. We just need to deal with her."

"Yeah, easier said than done." Phantom's eyes had locked onto Spectra again, and Jazz followed his sight. She was rising off of the ground already, and her glow remained strong and steady.

"Keep your distance," Phantom continued, not looking away. "We'll have to keep circling, make sure she can't get her claws into either of us. Rely on your ecto-blasts."

"Gotcha." She nodded, pulling her legs together in a spectral tail. Coiled herself up for the dive.

Phantom nodded as well. Dove. She followed a step behind him.

When he split to Spectra's left, she went right. Discharged her first blast simultaneously with Phantom's.

But Spectra dodged as easily as Bertrand had, lunging towards Jazz. Had identified her as the weaker point, too.

Jazz managed to twist her tail out of Spectra's clawing reach, but she'd lost all momentum in the process. Phantom blasted Spectra away again, but they had lost the circling already.

"Fuck," she heard him swear distantly. She was focused on her own core, on the rapidly depleting energy it contained.

She shot an ecto-blast of her own, but Spectra swatted it away like it was nothing.

"Oh boy," Jazz mumbled, backing away again. Spectra chased her, pursuing at the same speed as she had.

Another blast of energy—_blue?_—swung past her, hitting Spectra in the chest. The ghost crashed back to the ground, large crystals spiking from the impact site.

Phantom came up next to Jazz, his presence more comforting than she'd thought it would be. He continued to launch the blue blasts at Spectra. Every blast spread more ice onto the ghost, freezing her back to the ground every time she broke loose.

"I can't keep this up forever," Phantom informed her, voice strained. "This isn't weakening her. I have something that'll weaken her enough for the Thermos, but it'll cost me everything I've got."

They were out in the open. Anybody could be watching. Hell, she knew for a fact that her actual brother was nearby.

"You can't," she told Phantom, heart clenching. Her core spluttered. She didn't have enough energy to weaken Spectra. Could barely cling to ghost form. "Phantom, you can't."

A sharp crack. Jazz' eyes snapped back to Spectra. Phantom had paused just too long between blasts. She was loose once more.

"Fuck," he swore again, passionately and _so tired_. "Time for round three."

She pulled herself back into a fighting position. Energy wisped through her fists. They just had to— to last a little longer. Outlast Spectra.

The ghost in question snarled. Coiled like a snake. Shot towards them, claws outreached.

A blast of green whizzed between them, and Spectra screeched to a halt. Jazz felt her heart stop in her chest.

On the ground, cloaked in heavy metal armor, stood Danny Fenton.

"Oh, thank the lord," Phantom breathed next to her. Why was he so excited to see—

oh.

That armor her brother was wearing was the Fenton Ghost Peeler. The weapon that Phantom's sister had used to take out Spectra the first time.

"Let's go distract her, make sure he can land a hit," Phantom told her. Before she could reply, he dove, fast as lightning.

Energy rushed through her core, like hope given shape.

_Final stretch_, she thought to herself. Then she dove as well, legs merging back into a spectral tail.

She swept past Spectra, low to the ground. Glanced just on the edge of her reach. Before Spectra could lunge, however, Jazz darted away again.

On the other side, Phantom flung himself high. Fired off an ecto-blast against Spectra's back, not enough power to knock her away, but strong enough to draw her attention.

With the ghost distracted, Jazz shot past again. Darted right over Spectra's flaring hair.

Before Spectra could dig her talons into Jazz, Phantom dove low. Froze her twisting tail back to the street.

They both split away from their opponent, almost in perfect sync.

Danny took the opportunity for what it was. The Peeler's shot whistled through the air and hit Spectra straight in the chest.

She screeched, high and piercing like a banshee's call. Her outer layer literally peeled away, the black opening up to her human form. Then that split apart, leaving a slightly older version of Spectra's human form.

As Jazz watched, several more layers peeled away from Spectra's body until, finally, just a shriveled old woman was left. She jerked around, but couldn't break free of Phantom's ice anymore.

"No!" she screamed, clawing at her face. "No! My beautiful youth!"

"Yeah, you know what? I've heard enough from you already." Phantom uncapped his Thermos.

Spectra was dragged in without a struggle, and finally, finally, the fight was done.

Jazz sighed, feeling the full force of her exhaustion and pain come back. She was gonna sleep for a _week_ to get over this again, jeez. But first…

She cocked her head towards Danny, and Phantom nodded. They both lowered themselves back to the one human left on the street.

"Thank you," Jazz told him, watching as the armor slid back into the Ghost Peeler. "For your help just now. We couldn't have done it without you."

"Yeah, of course." Danny shrugged, easily, casually. Like he hadn't just gone against years of their parents' lessons about ghosts to help them. "Don't worry about it."

"Specter," Phantom said, a tone of urgency in his voice. "We'd better get going."

Her core twitched, drawing on the last vestiges of power.

"Right. Let's." She nodded towards Danny again, trying to wordlessly convey her gratitude. He grinned back, like he understood, somehow.

The two of them fled. They didn't go very far—Jazz crash-landed on a nearby roof when her core gave out. Phantom shifted back too, the bags under his eyes far more pronounced than she'd ever seen them.

"Are you okay?" he asked, crouching next to her. "That was a pretty rough fight."

"Our first big one, wasn't it?" She let herself slump down, her head resting against Phantom's shoulder. "Bertrand got me a few times—I hit my head pretty hard. But I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" he asked, his cool fingers carefully combing through her hair. Looking for injuries, probably. "You're allowed to not be, you know?"

"I'll be fine, Danny." She rested her head on his shoulder. His hand paused, then shifted, slid to rest on her arm. "I'm fine, and the city's fine, and we're both okay. Everything went alright."

He laughed, weakly. "Well, I hope you're ready for what's next. Now we're really in for it."

"Oh?" She considered lifting her head again, but it was heavy with exhaustion. No looking at Phantom's expression, then.

"Now Amity really knows who we are," he explained. "About our team."

"Oh," she said again. "That's fine. We _are_ a team."

"Right." He swallowed so heavily she could feel him move. "Of course."

* * *

Big fighting scene! I always struggle with fighting scenes, but this one was really important, so I wanted to do it well. Personally, I really like how it turned out, even if it doesn't 100% adhere to my original plans! (originally Danny Fenton was gonna talk with Specter a little more, and they would run into the fight against Spectra together) Spectra is a really neat villain, I think, and criminally underused (which, admittedly, I'm also guilty of). She also functions as a brilliant counterpoint to Jazz, and her debut episode was an important step in the canon DP timeline.

Anyway, next week, chapter 7: Shades of Gray


	7. Shades of Gray

Sidney's eyes slid past Jazz, towards the rest of the city that laid behind her.

"That different, huh?" she asked, tone light and teasing. He'd been doing it almost the whole time that they'd been up here, on the roof of Casper High. It must've been forever since Sidney had last seen the rest of Amity Park.

He laughed, clearly sheepish. "Sorry. I don't mean to be rude."

"I know, it's fine," she assured him, curling her legs underneath herself again. Her jumpsuit creaked a little, pinching her strangely, but Jazz was finally getting used to it. Was spending enough time in her ghost form to adjust. "Amity probably looks way different, huh?"

"Yeah." His gaze wandered off again, towards the busy streets away from the school. It wasn't that late yet, but, well. Not a whole lot of people came out near the school on a Sunday.

Besides, enough people had seen her and Phantom now. There was no point in trying to hide the existence of ghosts anymore, not after that huge battle with Spectra just a few days ago.

Jazz opened her mouth to say more, but cold mist wafted free instead. She groaned, drawing Sidney's attention back to her.

"Ghost," she explained, answering his unasked question.

She pushed herself up onto her feet, knowing that she would have to go look for it herself. Phantom was patrolling, yes, but he was taking care of the far side of Amity. If he came too close, Sidney would set off his ghost sense, and they didn't want to risk him missing any ghosts because he thought it was just Sidney.

A small bark sounded behind her, and Jazz froze. Then turned around, slowly. There, on the roof of the school, was the ghost that had (probably) set off her ghost sense.

The ghost was small and clearly a dog, puppy-like with big red eyes. Its fur was bright green, but its folded ears were black, and its lolling tongue was faint purple. Its tail, as wispy and flame-like as her own hair, was wagging up a storm.

"Well, that saves me the search, at least." She stared down at it, and it looked back at her.

"Be careful!" Sidney cautioned, perched on the edge of the roof. "Animal ghosts are as unpredictable as real animals!"

"I _know_, Sidney." She rolled her eyes. His advice was meant well, of course, but she had fought plenty of animalistic ghosts to know how to deal with them. This one, though… It didn't seem particularly volatile.

She lowered herself down into a crouch. The dog didn't move, but kept its eyes on her. She could tell, now, that it was wearing a black collar with glinting spikes on it. A dead pet?

Slowly, she extended an arm towards it. It stopped panting, stretching out its neck to sniff her hand. Whatever the ghost was looking for, apparently she was accepted, because it nosed her hand.

Jazz shifted her fingers, scratching the dog in its cold ectoplasmic fur. Its eyes closed into squints as she petted it.

"Jazz…" Sidney said, and she turned to look over her shoulder at him. He was clearly worried, gray eyes darting between her and the ghost.

"It's fine, I think it used to be a pet." She frowned, turning back to the dog. But if it _was_ just a pet dog that died, why did it become a ghost? And why would said ghost then come to Amity? Did it live here? Was it looking for its former family, its owners? "It's not volatile."

Sidney hummed, tone clearly skeptical.

If this ghost _was_ anything special, Phantom would know, right? He didn't have a phone, unfortunately, so she would have to go find him to ask.

She scooped the dog off of the ground, looking at the bundle of green fur squirming in her arms. Well. She couldn't really go looking for Phantom while carrying this ghost, could she?

The ghost was promptly shoved into Sidney's unsuspecting arms, and he scrambled to grab hold of the dog.

"Jazz, what—"

"I just need you to hold him for a bit," she explained, stepping away when it became clear that Sidney had the ghost. "I have to… go ask Phantom."

"Your brother?" Sidney raised a skeptical eyebrow at her. "I don't see why he would be any help in this situation."

"It's complicated." The dog held still in Sidney's scrawny arms. Good. Now she just had to—

"Oh!" Sidney exclaimed, arms flailing in an attempt to grab the ghost dog again. Somehow he missed every attempt—or the dog dodged them all—because it landed back on the roof.

And then, before either she or Sidney could grab it again, it was off like a shot.

"Shoot!" Sidney grunted, clearly frustrated. "Sorry, Jazz, I don't know what it happened. It just freaked out!"

"It's fine, Sidney. It happens." She looked in the direction she thought the dog had gone, but couldn't sense it. She wished her ghost sense functioned a little more like a tracker, sometimes. "Neither of us had expected it to freak out like that. Why don't we go look for it together?"

He nodded, toeing the gravel on the roof. "Alright. Sorry, Jazz."

"Stop apologizing." She waved a dismissive hand in his direction. "Seriously, it's not your fault. Come on, this is a good opportunity for you to see a little more of Amity, too."

* * *

The faintest whiff of her ghost sense told Jazz that the ghost was just on the edge of her sense's range. She followed the implied direction, hoping to finally find that dog ghost that had gotten away earlier.

It was about time, really. She'd been looking for so long that Sidney had left to go home. At this point, she figured it was more likely that she was looking for Phantom to ask him if he'd caught the ghost already.

She'd been high in the sky during the approach, in an attempt to make sure the ghost wouldn't see her and run. It had worked; the ghost, in all its green and glowing glory, stood still in the street. Of course, it didn't seem that Jazz was the reason for that. Phantom was darting all around it, interchangingly hitting it with blasts and dodging its swipes.

That, and the ghost she had found wasn't the one she was looking for.

Still, she was here anyway. Might as well make herself useful, especially as the fight was taking place in a residential area.

Jazz launched herself downward, blasting the ghostly feline in the side. Apparently she had blindsided it, because the cat yowled and bounced over the street, not even landing on its feet.

"Specter?" Phantom paused, throwing her a confused look. "Thanks, but… why are you here?"

"Was looking for a ghost." She watched the ghost clamber back onto its clawed feet. "Found you two instead."

Phantom hummed, before throwing himself at the ghost again. It hadn't quite recovered from her blast—thanks to the element of surprise, not her strength, she was sure—and was sucked up in the Thermos easily. She contemplated leaving, but chances were that Phantom had found the ghost dog already.

That, and the meaningful look he was throwing her meant that he _would_ chase her down if she left without him.

She rolled her eyes but followed his path up to a nearby roof, ignoring the hushed whispers of the crowd. This neighborhood was pretty far from FentonWorks; they likely hadn't seen much ghosts around here, not yet.

"Why were you patrolling?" Phantom asked the moment she touched down. "I thought you were spending time with Sidney?"

"I _was_," she admitted, shrugging. "Some kind of ghost dog found its way up to our roof, but it wasn't malevolent. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but then it suddenly sprinted away. Sidney and I looked for it, but we couldn't find it, so he went home."

"And you kept looking?" Phantom shook his head, then nodded. "What did it look like? I might've come across it before you did."

"Probably, yeah." She held out her hands. "About this big, standard coloration. Floppy black ears, though, and a spiked collar."

Phantom groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Of _course_ it was him. Figures."

"You know this one?" Well, she figured he probably knew all the ghosts they fought. But apparently this one left enough of an impression for Phantom to remember it—him.

"Yeah. Not sure if he has a name, but I've been calling him Cujo, and he answers to that. Sort of." Phantom made a face. "He's a major pain in my ass, honestly. Not too bad himself, but he's looking for a toy from when he was alive, and that set off a huge chain reaction in my world. I thought I had more time to go look for it before he came around, but I guess not."

"There might still be time, right?" She wasn't sure how a dog looking for its toy could cause so much trouble, but still. Phantom had no reason to lie about this stuff. "Let's go retrieve it before he tries doing it himself."

"Right." Phantom nodded, then turned to gesture further out of the city. "We'll need to head towards Axion Labs, then."

"Axion Labs?" she echoed as they both took flight. "Why would he go look for his toy there?"

"If the timeline matches up, which I think it does, they recently replaced their guard dogs with an advanced security system." Phantom looked at her, his expression pained. Surely he didn't mean… "I think Cujo was one of their old guard dogs."

"But— They can't have put all of those down, can they?"

He shrugged. "Maybe he died before then. I don't know. Not like I could ask him, y'know? But his toy is there, in the old kennels."

She opened her mouth to answer, but Phantom paused, suddenly. She stopped as well, hearing, faintly… alarms?

"We're too late." Phantom stared past her, and following his gaze, she saw Axion Labs in the distance. Red lights blinked over the building, and now that she was listening for them, the sound was definitely alarms that were going off.

"What happened?" Surely the ghost hadn't caused any injuries? Phantom would've said if it was dangerous. Right?

"He broke in." Phantom continued his flight again, more slowly. "The security system couldn't stop him, because it was designed to stop _humans_, not ghosts. The boss is going to be pissed, and they're not going to realize he's a ghost and not a regular dog. The designer of the system, Damon Gray, will lose his job."

"Gray?" she echoed, faintly. "Valerie's dad?"

"He gets re-hired later," Phantom said, sounding like it was supposed to a comfort. "In a lower-paying position, though. The Grays never find their way back to riches."

Jazz felt like she had swallowed a block of ice. She had never really liked Valerie, per se, but that didn't mean that she wanted _this_ for her.

"And it's—"

"Not your fault," Phantom cut in. "Nor mine. If you _want_ to blame someone, blame whoever is responsible for Cujo's death."

He paused, and she stopped next to him. She startled when he grasped for her shoulder, when he met her eyes. "Jazz. Don't blame yourself, okay? It's not your fault that Cujo got away—trust me, he's very good at that. Cujo is just _one_ ghost, and he's not even malevolent. No one is hurt."

"But Valerie—"

"Will be fine." Phantom shook her shoulder a little. "Seriously. It sucks now, and it's gonna suck for a little longer, but in the end she'll be glad it happened. She was in my universe. She's an A-Lister now, I know, and she won't be allowed to stay in that group when they find out that she's not rich anymore. It's gonna be rough, yeah. But eventually she'll realize that those guys were never really her friends, and she'll find better ones, and she'll be happy. Happier than she was before. Okay?"

"Okay," she repeated, not really believing it.

Phantom didn't look like he believed her either, but he let go anyway. "Good. I'll see if Cujo got his toy, and if not, I'll bring it out so he won't break in again. Why don't you go home?"

She sighed, but nodded. "I guess. Not much else I can do, anyway."

He didn't look happy at her sentiment, but hey, neither was she. "Good. Bye, Jazz."

"Bye, Phantom."

* * *

Jazz was still thinking about it when she heard Dash snip at someone during lunch. She looked, barely noticeable, as Dash puffed himself up, blocking Valerie's way.

"Oh," Valerie said, posture tense. "I see."

This, she didn't want to hear. Jazz turned back to her lunch, trying to ignore the way her guts squirmed. Phantom might've said that it was unavoidable, that it wasn't her fault, that Valerie would be better off for it, but it didn't _feel_ that way.

She trusted him to be right. Her body didn't have to agree with that, though.

There was nothing she could do about it, anyway. If the other A-Listers got troublesome enough, Sidney could interfere, but she? She couldn't do anything.

The scrape of a lunch tray on a table. Jazz looked up, slightly, to see Valerie hesitate. She shrugged, lightly, then turned back to her own lunch.

Didn't comment when Valerie sat down, joining her otherwise empty table.

Jazz was a Fenton, and unfortunately, the Fentons were outcasts. Danny might've been able to find two kids his age, similarly outcast from society—or uncaring enough to befriend him—but she hadn't been as lucky. Not that she cared, not really. No one picked on her, anyway, and teachers liked her. Who cared about the opinions of kids?

Well, Valerie did, she supposed.

She continued eating her lunch. Phantom had encouraged her to eat well despite the awfulness of both cafeteria food and food prepared home. Apparently half-ghosts burned through a lot of energy, and she had to keep up a steady supply of energy to her developing core.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Valerie pick at her lunch as well. The girl relaxed slightly, over time.

Jazz was a Fenton, and she'd always been an outcast. She hadn't cared enough to change it.

She had never considered that being an outcast would make her a safe haven. She was glad for it, now, for being able to at least offer _that_ to Valerie. Even if she was the reason why Valerie needed it in the first place.

It was _something_, at least.

* * *

Jazz dove, corkscrewing around a non-existent obstacle.

"Good!" Phantom complimented as he caught back up to her side. "Could use more work, though."

She rolled her eyes, whirling around him. "Are you really surprised?"

"Nah," he said, easily. "But it's good to keep in mind, now that we're no longer hiding in the woods."

That, at least, made sense. With Amity's increasing familiarity with ghosts, Phantom said that they could move some of their training sessions back to the city. Some things, like flying, you just couldn't practice in the dense woodlands.

"Fair enough." She watched as he did a complicated roll through the air, darting up and then suddenly dropping down. Phantom might have two years of experience over her, but she was certain that this grace came from elsewhere. He looked _right_ in the skies, in a way she didn't think she ever would.

Still, she tried to mimic his maneuver, coming to a halt next to him. "How was that?"

"Pretty good." He grinned at her, looking impressed. "You've been holding back on— Whoa!"

A bolt of pink ectoplasm shot past them, almost brushing Phantom's arm. Jazz startled. Why hadn't her ghost sense warned her?

She curled through the air, rather than turning in place. Staying in one spot? Potentially dangerous.

When she saw the origin of the blast, however, she faltered.

The figure was humanoid—actually human, she was sure—clothed entirely in red, but with black gloves and boots. Wearing a _mask_, even. Stood shakily upon a hoverboard, like they—she?—hadn't quite gotten used to it yet. A rather sizable ecto-gun was braced against her shoulder, aimed in their direction.

A second pink blast pinged off of the green shield that had appeared in front of Jazz, and she jerked back to the moment. Phantom hung next to her, his eyes fixated on the human as well. On the ghost hunter.

Jazz opened her mouth to ask him—what now?—but Phantom whispered, so quiet she almost missed it, "_Red_."

And, oh.

Red was Phantom's ally in his dimension, wasn't she? He trusted her to keep Amity safe from ghost attacks. They couldn't… couldn't fight her, could they?

The third shot went wide, and Phantom's shield faded away. He dove, suddenly, and Jazz swallowed her questions to follow him. Behind her, she could hear thrusters whir to life.

She didn't understand. Wasn't Red an ally in Phantom's world? Wasn't that why he trusted her to keep Amity safe? Had Jazz messed something up, in this universe, that had led to this? Or did they just have to win Red over?

Why was she here, now? What had led to this sudden appearance?

Phantom paused, suddenly, low in an alley. Red's hoverboard sped by, apparently having missed their last dive.

"What—" Jazz started, unsure of which question she was going to ask, but Phantom held up a silencing hand.

"We need to leave," he said, quietly. "We can't—_shouldn't_—fight humans. The only way to get rid of her is to escape. Split up, and I'll meet you back at your house later so we can talk. Okay?"

She nodded. "Gotcha."

"On go." He crouched in mid-air. She braced herself against a wall. "Go!"

They both pushed off, shooting diagonally out of the alley. Red had spotted them immediately, her hoverboard roaring as she raced back in their direction. Jazz threw a glance at Phantom, saw that he was heading away—towards the park, the woods—and continued her chosen direction towards home. Even if that might seem suspicious, that _was_ were the portal was located. It made sense.

Phantom was much faster than Jazz. She knew this. She knew she was the more likely target. Red's hoverboard just wasn't fast enough to keep up with the older half-ghost.

Still, the roar of the engines went in the other direction.

She slowed, just a tad, to look over her shoulder. And, indeed, Red was chasing down Phantom, not her.

Was she going after the more dangerous target? Surely not? Wasn't it better to chase the weaker target that you knew you could get, rather than go after the more dangerous one you can't catch?

Something weird was going on here. And Jazz didn't like it.

* * *

Honestly, Danny hadn't put much thought into _how_ he would meet with Jazz that night. They couldn't risk meeting on the roof in their ghost forms, not if Valerie might be on patrol. And he couldn't just phase inside as Phantom. Even if their—_her_—parents hadn't ghost-proofed the place, it was far too likely that someone might come in.

But that someone might also be the Danny of _this_ universe. If he saw Danny…

Well. They could probably play that off a shapeshifter ghost? It was his best option, he guessed. He just had to make sure Jazz knew which Danny he was.

He waited until darkness fell, his stomach grumbling as dinnertime came and went. It wasn't as bad in his ghost form, but, well. No sense in risking the Red Huntress just for a little _hunger_, right?

The light came on in Jazz' room. Showtime.

Danny turned himself invisible, flying towards her window. His powers were harder to use in human form, sure, but not impossible.

Only Jazz was present. He knocked, drawing her attention to the seemingly-empty window. She frowned, but caught on quickly—as expected. Nodded.

He phased inside, dropping his invisibility almost immediately.

"Phantom," she greeted him, and he ignored the usual pang of hurt. He understood, of course, had encouraged her to call him Phantom instead of Danny. It was important to maintain that difference, to remember that he wasn't _her_ Danny.

But hearing his sister, her voice so like his own sister's, call him Phantom instead of Danny…

It hurt. But that was okay. Just a little pain, he could endure. Better him than her.

"Hey, Jazz." He hesitated, then sat down on the edge of her bed. Watched as she dragged a chair in closer, so they could face each other more easily while talking.

"So… Red?" she probed, in a tone he knew oh-so-well.

He laughed a little, despite the pain of the memories. "Yes. The Red Huntress, the public calls her. Or, well. You know what I mean."

Jazz nodded, slowly. Her facial expression was one he was very familiar with. It said _'you'd better keep talking, or I _will_ dig out this information the hard way'_.

"She's hired—kinda—by Vlad. Well, an anonymous benefactor, but it's Vlad. He drops off ghost hunting supplies for her, top notch, invented by himself. In return, she hunts down ghosts. Specifically, she always had it out for me."

"Still does, it seems," Jazz pointed out. "She chased after you, even though you were too fast for her. Any sensible hunter would've gone after me."

Then Jazz frowned. "Wait, but why now? What happened that would've brought this on?"

Ah, and there came the real banger. The source of guilt for both of them—because he hadn't prevented it. Almost casually, he said, "Well, her dad lost his job because of ghosts."

"Oh." Jazz' eyes grew wide. "Wait. That was _Valerie_? A-Lister, sends jocks after kids instead of getting her hands dirty, Valerie?"

"Well, no longer an A-Lister," Danny pointed out with a shrug. "And she is like, a ninth degree black belt. Trust me, you do not want to take Valerie on in a direct fight."

"But—" Jazz slammed her mouth shut, then groaned. "But _why_? I mean, I get why she's after ghosts, but she was gunning for _you_, specifically, I'm sure of it. Why would she do that?"

And that was the real question, wasn't it? In his own universe, he'd drawn her ire by being associated with Cujo. In this one? It must be Vlad's doing, right?

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "In my own universe, she had fixated on me because I was there when her dad's reputation was ruined. She thought Cujo was my dog, and blamed me for his rampage. In this one… I don't know. I guess Vlad asked her to focus on me, but I can't imagine why."

"Maybe he wants her to… eliminate you?" Jazz said, slowly. "I mean, I _did_ turn him down because I already had a ghostly mentor. Maybe he thinks that, if he takes out the competition, he can win me back?"

Danny made a face. "Ugh, that sounds exactly like Vlad. It's possible, yeah."

"So we just… need to win Valerie over, somehow?" Jazz shifted in her chair, the frown back. "How did you do it in your universe? Especially since she hated you?"

He laughed. It wasn't happy. "I didn't, not really."

"But—"

"Valerie hates ghosts. I'm not really a ghost, am I?" He grinned, humorlessly. "She fought me until she found out. After that she was still pissed, but she didn't shoot me anymore, so."

"But you… you said you trusted her to keep Amity safe," Jazz stammered, eyes wide.

He shrugged, plucking on his sleeve. It was going ragged—all this time outside in the same clothes was wearing them out way faster than he would've thought. "Well, yeah. She's a great ghost hunter, especially now that she's not driven by vengeance. I trust her. I never said she trusted me back."

"Oh." She turned her face down, her tucked-away hair slipping free.

"But that doesn't mean anything," he said, trying to comfort her again. "I mean, I've got plenty of enemies that _you_ talked out of fighting. And your Valerie, your Red Huntress, she's not blaming _you_ for what happened. If anyone's gonna talk her into being a proper ally, it'll be you. You're great at that stuff."

Jazz looked up again. Her eyes were big and watery. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." He shrugged, trying to come across as casual again. "I mean, look at all these ghosts you've talked out of violence. Lunch Lady, Dora, Sidney, Desiree. I fought all of those guys."

A grin crept on her face, little by little. "Yeah," she said again, more sure. "Yeah, I can do it. I'll convince Valerie. I can do it."

* * *

Jazz walked into the canteen a little late. Automatically, she took in all the tables, searching for a spot to sit. Her eye caught on Valerie, alone, outside despite the cold.

She bit her lip.

Win her over. Right. She could do that.

Her lunch tray was filled, and then she walked outside. Sat down on the opposite side of Valerie.

The girl shot her a skeptical look, throwing a very clear glance back at the door. Jazz shrugged.

"I know what ghosts can do to someone's reputation," she said, in lieu of an explanation.

"Oh." Valerie's gaze dropped back to her plate. Her posture softened a little, though. "Right."

They sat in silence for a long moment, both of them picking away at their lunches.

"Look," Jazz finally said, breaking the quiet again. "I'm not going to say that I know what it feels like, because I know that it's not the same. But Valerie…"

Valerie looked up from her lunch, meeting her eyes.

Jazz rolled a lipstick over the table. It hit Valerie's lunch tray with a metal sound, the smooth plating catching the light even when it laid still.

"If you ever want to learn more about ghosts, including how to fight off the bad ones…" She shrugged. "Well, I'd be willing to teach you. Including how to use that laser lipstick."

"Laser?" Valerie echoed, somewhat incredulously. She reached for the tube. Uncapped it to reveal the bright green inner tube.

"Just point and twist the green band," she explained. Handing a ghost hunter a weapon might not _seem_ like the best plan, sure. But Valerie already had plenty of guns. The laser lipstick didn't pack _that_ much of a punch, and it would win her some trust.

Besides, if Valerie wanted to hunt ghosts, she might as well be safe doing it.

Valerie shook her head, capping the lipstick again. "I'll try that somewhere safer, if you don't mind."

But she stuck it in her pocket, rather than handing it back to Jazz, so she counted it a victory.

"Now, about ghosts…" Valerie continued, a grin slowly creeping onto her face.

And Jazz smiled back.

* * *

I hate the word "gray" 100% exclusively because I've been exposed to a mixture of British and American English and as a result tend to switch between spelling it as "gray" or "grey" with no rhyme or reason. And yes, on occasion this means using both in one sentence.  
...Anyway. I very much had not intended for Valerie and Jazz to become friends but it somehow just happened while writing this chapter and, well, it works! Jazz, Valerie, and Sidney kind of form their own group similar to Danny, Sam, and Tucker, I think. I mean, Valerie still hates ghosts with a passion and thus hasn't met Sidney yet, but shh.

Also I've been slipping on keeping up with my buffer for Absurdism, but! I can say with certainty that there's some real interesting stuff coming up, including a meeting that people have been asking for forever. ;) And hopefully I'll have more time to write soon, with the whole quarantine business going on. (technically I've got school still, but most of my school atm is project work, and we don't have a way to do that from home yet, so...)

Next week, chapter 8: Fanning the Flames


	8. Fanning the Flames

"It's just suspicious," Jazz whispered, voice low. She didn't expect to be overheard, despite the crowded hallway. Some kind of craze had come upon the students, recently, and suddenly everyone was obsessed with music from some artist named Ember.

And, well. She had dealt with enough ghosts and ghostly business to consider that reason for wariness.

"It's possible," Sidney acknowledged, speaking through the mirror—even with everyone so distracted, she didn't want to make it _too_ obvious who she was talking to. "I don't recognize the name, but I can't say I know every ghost around."

"I don't expect you to." Jazz sighed, tucked a stray bit of hair behind her ear. "It's just… not ideal."

"What isn't?" a sharp voice suddenly asked, and Jazz straightened automatically. Valerie.

"Nothing," she quickly assured, turning around to face Valerie. "It's nothing, Valerie."

The other girl shot her a skeptical look. It didn't last long however, as Valerie's eyes suddenly widened, and, oh, yeah.

Sidney.

"Jazz," Valerie hissed, turning furious eyes back to her, "I thought you hated ghosts! I thought you agreed with me and your parents!"

She scoffed. "My parents aren't always _right_, Valerie."

Valerie eyed her for a moment longer, clearly suspicious. "I thought you were talking to yourself. Thought that was kinda weird."

"Mh. I was talking to Sidney." Jazz gestured at the mirror again, looking from the corner of her eye to make sure he was still there. "But, speaking of weird, what do you think of the sudden musical craze happening?"

"What, with everyone suddenly going crazy over that girl? Ember whatever?" Valerie continued to squint suspiciously, but she was clever. Jazz could see the gears turning in her head. "You were talking about that?"

"Jazz thinks that ghosts might be involved," Sidney explained, clearly uncertain but willing to go along with Jazz. "It's certainly possible. Ghost powers are highly varied, but brainwashing anyone who is exposed to one's music? It is absolutely in the realm of possibility."

"It _is_ pretty suspicious," Valerie allowed, inclining her head a little. She didn't stop squinting at Jazz. "You don't know who's responsible for it?"

"It seems likely that the singer is a ghost. Ember McClain, I believe." Jazz leaned against the edge of her locker, keeping an eye on both Sidney and Valerie. "Sidney hadn't heard of her before, but there's tons of ghosts in the Zone, so it's definitely possible that he just missed her."

Valerie nodded, her mouth tight and grim. "That's… good to know. I guess I'll have to avoid her—and her music."

"I was planning on looking at my parents' inventions, see if they have anything that can be used to block the brainwashing effect." Or, well. She was going to ask Phantom if he was familiar with Ember, and if yes, how to break her power's effect. But that might involve some Fenton invention, so. It was basically the same, right?

"Just… be careful," Sidney urged her from the other side of the mirror. "And stay safe, Jazz."

"I will, Sid, I promise." She shot him a—hopefully comforting—grin. "You stay out of trouble, too."

He nodded, and his image faded away. The mirror's surface returned to its normal reflective state.

"Let's get lunch," Valerie said, voice terse. "Somewhere private."

"Sounds good," Jazz agreed.

The silence that fell lasted all the way until they sat down outside. The weather was getting better, but no one else had chosen to go out. Maybe they were all obsessing about Ember inside?

"So," Valerie said, then stopped. Her shoulders were still tight, muscles tensed.

"So," Jazz repeated, idly pushing her lunch around. "Look, Valerie. I know I've been teaching you about ghosts based on my parents' expertise, but they're not perfect. They don't know everything."

"And you do?" she asked, skeptically. "It's not like they've been doing this for forever or anything."

Jazz rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying that either. But… my parents decided, before they ever met ghosts, that they were all bad, all malevolent and unthinking. And every ghost they've heard about since? They've just twisted what they see to fit what they decide was the truth. They're biased, and that's not good. It's unscientific."

"Yes, because _ghosts_ are so _scientific_." Valerie shook her head, taking a bite of her own lunch. Cheap cafeteria food—not enough to keep up with her teenage metabolism, not with how active Val was as the Red Huntress.

"Fair enough," she allowed, taking a bite of her own sandwich. "But, really. Not all ghosts are as bad as my parents suggest. Sidney, you've probably heard of? Fighting off bullies to protect their victims. That's not bad, is it?"

"Could be fighting for the sake of fighting," Valerie protested. "Building up a reputation by playing a guardian angel, and then, bam! He turns against us."

She shook her head. "He wouldn't. I know him."

"Yeah, well." Valerie gestured wildly. "There are plenty of _other_ ghosts out there, all clearly malevolent. I mean, that dog ghost that attacked Axion Labs, that _ruined_ mine and my dad's lives?"

"It probably hadn't _meant_ to do any of that, Valerie." Jazz softened a little, trying for a comforting tone. "It was a _dog_. It probably didn't know any better."

"So? Just because it's an animal means that it should be allowed to run free? To cause trouble?"

"I didn't say that," she bit back, trying not to sound overly defensive. "It shouldn't run around free, not if it's just an animal. Someone should've stopped it. And who knows? Maybe they tried? We don't know, do we?"

"What, someone like— like Specter and Phantom?" Valerie scoffed. "Please. Those two are sketchy as all hell."

Were they? She supposed that they weren't seen all that much, but still… "I don't know, Val. I think they're just trying to help."

Valerie snorted dismissively. "Oh, please. They're just doing cutesie dates in the human world, beating up their fellow ghosts. There's nothing dependable about those two."

Jazz felt her mind grind to a halt. "Dates?" she repeated incredulously. "Like… _couple_ dates?"

"Uh, yeah?" Valerie raised a questioning eyebrow. "Come on, you can't have missed it. Those two are close as anything, and everyone knows that ghosts don't keep memories of their life, so they can't be related. Therefore, they must be dating. Plus, they even look like they're close to each other's ages. Bonus."

Jazz made a face, but she supposed Valerie had a point. As much as she hated it, the thought that people thought she and her brother—an alternate version of her brother—were dating… she couldn't deny it, not as Jazz Fenton. She would have to talk it through with Phantom. Make sure that it become clear that they _were_, in fact, siblings.

Ugh. She'd heard a few vague rumors about it before, but she hadn't realized it was this big. Now it was a whole _thing_.

"I guess," she settled on, but she knew she'd been silent too long. Valerie raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment.

They ate the rest of their lunches in silence.

* * *

"They think we're _what_?! Yuck." Phantom made a disgusted face, his green tongue poking out. "Seriously, urk."

"Yeah, no kidding." Jazz shivered, a little overdramatic to match with Phantom. "We need to dissuade those rumors."

"Definitely." Phantom shook his head, pushing one gloved hand through his hair. "Yikes. I mean, how did you even find out about that?"

"Valerie and I were talking about ghosts earlier," Jazz explained, shrugging at Phantom's incredulous look. "We were talking about ghosts that might be good, and she said that people thought our ghost fights were, like, dates. Apparently those rumors are kinda popular. Or, well, were. Everyone's crazy about that one musician now."

Phantom frowned. "Ember? That's now?"

"So we were right?" Jazz wasn't sure to cheer or to be disappointed that it was _another_ major ghost attack. "Ember McClain is a ghost?"

"Yeah." Phantom sighed, deep and heavy. "She brainwashes people to adore her, and that obsession strengthens her."

He paused for a moment, then turned his head towards her, abruptly. "Wait. We?"

She shrugged again. "Me, Sidney, and Valerie were talking about it. Or, well. Sidney and I were talking about it, and Valerie dropped in without either of us noticing."

Phantom made a face. "Well, that explains why the two of you were talking about ghosts. How'd she take it?"

"Not brilliantly," Jazz admitted. "She thinks Sidney is tricking us into believing him to be nice, and like I said, she thinks that Specter and Phantom are only fighting ghosts as dates. But she listened to me explain, at least."

"Still better than my Red, to be honest." He scratched the back of his neck, a gesture of nervousness she could recognize as Danny's from miles away. She wondered how that hadn't given him away yet. "She took a while longer to even _consider_ listening."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it." Jazz sighed, tucking away a strand of hair. "But, Ember? What's our plan?"

"We'll have to wait." Phantom crossed his arms, standing up to his full length. "She gets stronger when people chant for her. With the amount of people going crazy for her now, we don't stand a chance. We'll have to break the obsession first."

"Okay? So how are we going to do that?"

Phantom rolled his eyes, but the corner of his mouth twitched up in what was unmistakably a smile. "Impatient, are you? Anyway, she should be dropping by sometime soon. Doing an impromptu show at the school. In my universe, Tucker did a bad rendition of her song, which broke the obsession. I'm not gonna subject _this_ universe's Tucker to the same, so I'll do it myself. After that, it shouldn't be too difficult to beat her, not with the two of us."

She nodded. "Anything we need? Some kind of gadgets that will protect us, or Valerie?"

"Uh… Oh, yeah, actually. In my universe my parents had just invented some kind of earpieces. They were supposed to filter out spectral noise, but you can use them to communicate over longer distances as well. If you can snatch some of those, that would be super convenient. We should be safe from the regular musical brainwashing Ember can do, thanks to our half-ghost-ness, but direct attacks from her guitar can still get us."

"Alright, I'll look into those then." She hoped they existed in this universe too. Sounded convenient. "So. Those earpieces, and then we wait? Do you know how long?"

He shrugged, looking apologetic. "No clue. Sorry, Jazz. I'll hang out near Casper High so I'll notice if she's there. Don't worry about your ghost sense, you'll know when she's there."

"Well, if you're sure." She nodded, again. "I'll get going, then. See you soon, Phantom."

* * *

A strum of loud music broke the quiet of the classroom. The other students started screaming, rushed out of the classroom like their lives depended on it.

Through the chaos, Jazz caught Valerie's look and nodded. They got up, followed the rest outside.

Jazz' core stirred as they ran through the hallways, and she turned her head away to hide it from Valerie. When she turned back, Sidney had joined them, flying along.

They burst through the doors, stopping on the top step in front of the school. All other students had formed an enormous crowd, almost entirely black and blue, like an incomprehensible mass. And there, parked in front of them all, stood a giant podium.

"Fuck," Valerie swore, eyes locked on the musician that stood on the foreground of the stage. Pale skin, shredded and punky black clothes, and blue hair that flared like fire.

Really, how had no one else figured out that Ember McClain was a ghost if her hair did _that_?

"Well, at least she's obvious about it?" Sidney said. He grimaced. "I'm not gonna be any help here. I'll have to leave, sorry."

Valerie made a face, but nodded at Jazz. "I have to go too. Stay safe, Jazz."

"You too, Val. And—" she held out her hand, revealing two shiny chrome earpieces. Fenton Phones. "Please wear these. They should block the worst of Ember's brainwashing power."

The other girl took them with a grateful expression. "Thanks. Make sure to wear some yourself, too."

"Yeah, of course," Jazz assured her, even as Valerie raced down the steps. She wouldn't. There was no point, not now. But Valerie didn't need to know that.

She glanced around, confirming that the immediate area was void of watchers. There were plenty of people, sure, but they were all focused on the stage, and on Ember.

Her core stirred to life, light flashing as she shifted to her ghost form. From there, it was a short burst of power to bring her to the roof of Casper High, where Phantom was waiting.

"So, the plan?" Jazz asked, touching down on the edge of the roof. She kept her eyes on Ember.

"You distract her, I'll grab the microphone and break the obsession. After that, we should be able to take her out without _too_ much trouble. She's a decent fighter, and you'll need to keep an eye on her guitar, but she's no Spectra."

"Gotcha." Jazz nodded, lowering herself in a crouch. "Ready?"

Rather than answer, Phantom shot himself off of the roof. Jazz rolled her eyes but followed him with a burst of speed of her own.

Phantom dove right past Ember, but she pulled the mike away before he could reach for it. She sung on, steady and unwavering.

Alright, Jazz could admit that that was _pretty_ impressive.

Still, she had a job to do. She followed Phantom's example, diving low over the crowd. Rather than dart right past Ember, she raised herself earlier, extending a threatening hand coated in golden ectoplasm at her.

Ember snarled back, her hair flaring, but her song remained uninterrupted.

Black and white streaked past Ember's other side, blue light flashing as Phantom froze the podium where he passed it.

And then, just when Jazz was preparing herself for another dive, a bolt of pink ectoplasm whizzed by her. She turned her head to gaze up, staring straight at Valerie.

She rose to up Valerie's height, Phantom twirling around her. Valerie shifted on her board, like she scoffed, but she _did_ lower her gun, so. Small victories.

"What?" she snapped at the two of them when they evened out with her. "Is shooting her a no-go or something?"

"Kind of," Phantom explained, ignoring Valerie's vicious tone. "She gets stronger when people say her name, especially if they chant it, when they're obsessed by her. We need to break everyone's trance, first, or else she'll shrug off everything we can throw at her."

Valerie scoffed. "And how do you plan on achieving that?"

"I need her microphone. I'll do a terrible rendition of her song, and that'll make people lose interest." Phantom shrugged at Valerie's incredulous look. "Trust me, I can produce some awful noises. It'll work."

"Ugh." Valerie shook her head, then nodded. "Fine, whatever. I don't trust either of you, but fine. I know which ghost here takes priority."

Jazz shot her a brilliant smile, but Valerie seemed to ignore it. Hard to tell, with the mask she was wearing.

"Good. In that case, why don't you take crowd control?" Phantom gestured at the enormous mass of humans below them. "Ember can force her adoring fans to do anything she wants them to. She might turn them against other humans, or attack them directly. You protect them, keep them safe, and we'll deal with Ember."

Valerie cocked her head, giving the impression that she was squinting at Phantom, but eventually she nodded. "Yeah, sure. Whatever. But I'm keeping an eye on you two."

"That's fair," Jazz acknowledged with a loose shrug. She nodded at Phantom, who grinned back.

In almost perfect sync, they dove back down again. Phantom quickly overtook her, corkscrewing past Ember's front. Ice crystals spiked from the podium's edge, drawing excited yells from the public—they must've thought it was some kind of neat effect.

Hell, how much of this were they even noticing? That was a terrifying thought, that they didn't even realize the kind of danger they were in.

Jazz dove past Ember's back, discharging an ectoblast against her bare back. Ember stumbled forward, slipping on the ice that Phantom had left. She yelped, barely catching herself before she fell.

She had let go of the microphone.

Phantom had turned around in no-time, already speeding back. Ember's eyes darted up to him, one hand flying out to grab the mike before he could.

Too slow.

The blur of black and white turned in its spot, going from horizontal to vertical like it was nothing. A decent height above the stage he stopped, the microphone held in his clenched fist.

"Hey, Amity," he said into it. His voice crackled, the sound more echo-y and staticky than normal. "This one's for all of you great folks."

He winked, and Jazz knew she should be paying attention to the fight, but— but she had so few chances to watch Phantom work his magic. Besides, Ember seemed to be distracted by him as well. She frowned up at him, teeth bared in a snarl.

And then Phantom did— something. She didn't know what, exactly. He just opened his mouth, the mike held before it, and made a noise— beyond description, really.

If she tried, she could almost make out words. But for the most part, it was a terrible sound, haunting and wailing and sharp and cutting. The sound installation couldn't handle it either, a layer of static and screeching feedback applied over the whole thing.

It certainly seemed to do the trick. Everyone in the audience screamed, clapping their hands over their ears. Valerie's head swirled towards Phantom, but she remained steady on her hoverboard. The earpieces must be filtering out Phantom's noise.

Ember screeched, or, well. She looked like she was snarling and screeching, but Jazz couldn't hear anything over Phantom's terrible wail.

Then, suddenly, it was over. The silence was loud in the absence of Phantom's song, and one by one, the audience lowered their hands again.

Valerie, the only one not distracted by Phantom, fired at Ember. A square hit, the ghost too occupied with her half-ghost opponents to notice the human hunter.

She stumbled on the stage, her eyes drawn towards Valerie, who had her gun raised and smoking. Ember's fingers tightened on the neck of her guitar, and she raised her other hand threateningly.

Jazz fired a blast of golden ectoplasm against Ember's back, then darted upwards before she could retaliate.

With Ember's attention on Jazz, Valerie fired another shot. And when Ember turned back to the human huntress, Jazz shot again. They exchanged a few shots in that manner, until suddenly, a blue vortex interrupted the volley.

Phantom hovered above them, the uncapped Thermos held in one hand, and the microphone in the other.

"Can't let you two have all the fun, can I?" he said, grinning a little. Valerie grumbled, but lowered her gun. She flew in closer, until all three of them hovered above the stage.

"You consider that fun, Phantom?" she asked sharply, jerking her head towards the Thermos he was capping.

He rolled his eyes. "It's a figure of speech, chill." He clicked the Thermos back on his belt, then held up the microphone to his mouth.

"While I'm holding this, I would like to publicly thank you for your help, huntress! So, thank you, for helping us protect Amity Park's citizens!"

Valerie grumbled under her breath, shooting Phantom something that was probably a venomous glare. "Yeah, well. I'll keep an eye on you two, too. Don't think that this means anything."

She shook her head, and the engines of her hoverboard roared to life. Apparently she had decided she couldn't shoot them in front of all these people, as she left without another word.

"And, on a final note," Phantom said, interrupting Jazz' train of thought, "Amity Park! As much as Specter and I enjoy your warm welcome, we would like to make a small note to your baseless rumors!"

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side. "This fantastic girl here is Specter, as most of you know! What none of you seem to realize, however, is that she's my _sister_. We're not dating, we've never dated, and we never _will_ date."

Jazz wrapped one gloved hand around the microphone, drawing it closer to herself. "Like Phantom said. Seriously, guys, we're siblings. Please stop saying we're dating, that's seriously uncomfortable."

"Yeah, anyway." Phantom cleared his throat, then let go of her to place the microphone back on the stage. "Thanks for listening, folks, and have a good day!"

* * *

"Ugh," Jazz grunted, dramatically draping herself over a rock. They were back in the woods for training, somewhere where Phantom could teach her about shields without Valerie interrupting.

"What's up?" he asked, humor in his voice. "Life getting you down?"

"It's no big deal," she said, straightening herself again. "It's just— this guy my brother is dating, you know? Something about him sets off alarm bells in my head, and I don't know what it is."

Phantom laughed. "That's fair. I can't say anything about your brother's tastes, but I know _I _have had some questionable dating experiences."

"Yeah?" She curled her legs underneath her, trying to find a comfortable spot to sit on the rock. "Come on, you can't reference poor dates and not tell me about them!"

"Oh?" He grinned back at her, one hand lighting up green. "How about this, then. You show me a good shield, and I'll tell you. Deal?"

"Deal!" She jumped to her feet, already pulling energy from her core. She got the principles already, how hard could it be to make an actual shield? It was just like an ectoblast, except she had to maintain it as a plane instead of firing it.

A ball of golden energy formed in her hands, and she poured in more and more energy. How much was enough?

Movement in the corner of her eye. She looked up, caught Phantom's smirk. He raised a green hand.

Uh oh.

She raised her arms in front of her head automatically, pushing the collected energy outwards. Her core churned in her chest. Her eyes were clenched close.

No impact came.

Jazz lowered her arms, hesitantly. Phantom stood in the same spot as before, grinning widely.

A wall of golden energy, wavering and transparent, separated them.

"Good job!" he complimented her, raising a thumb. "I knew you could do it!"

She laughed a little, incredulous. Raised one hand to touch the wall, her fingers barely grazing past it. It was— energy, really. The sensation wasn't one she could really describe. It was like energy underneath her finger, flexible and buzzing like static.

The ball of power burst like a bubble. Her core quietened, the strain of maintaining it finally gone.

"Nice," she said, quiet. Then she turned to Phantom, grinning again. "So, about our deal…"

He groaned, but the smile didn't leave his face. "Should've tempted you with embarrassing stories sooner. Urgh, alright." Phantom folded his legs underneath himself, sitting down in the air.

Jazz eyed him for a moment, but, well. It _did_ look more comfortable than the rock she sat on earlier. How hard could it really be?

She tugged on her core, activating her flight. Hovering just above the ground, she pulled her legs underneath herself as well, until she was in a sitting position.

Phantom waited until she was still, then nodded. "Right, so. My poor dating choices. There's really only two, but they were pretty bold. Sam and Tucker hated me for the second one, too. Chronological order?"

"Sounds good. Save the best for last." She grinned at him, and he stuck out his tongue, childishly.

"Okay, so. Technically this one is in two parts. My first dating experience in high school was Paulina. First, I asked her to that party all the way at the start of the year. But Dora's necklace had slipped into my bag, and I didn't recognize it, so when Paulina asked about it I pretended it was a gift for her. She agreed to be my date, and wore the necklace to the dance."

"Oh _no_," Jazz said, but she couldn't hold back her laughter. "How did that go?"

"_Well_…" He laughed. "It was a whole thing, but she ended up passing the thing to Sam when she found out she wasn't making Sam jealous by 'stealing' me. Sam got pissed at Paulina for being shallow, and she had the necklace, and, well. You can guess how that went."

"Oh my god, did you fight a draconic version of Sam?" Now Jazz really couldn't hold back her laughter, giggling. "Danny, that's awful."

"Yeah, well. That wasn't the end of it." He shook his head, a self-deprecating smile on his face. "So, after that disaster I figured my chances with Paulina were ruined forever. When Phantom became well-known, she started making heart-eyes at him, though. I started wondering what she would think if she found out that he and I were the same person. And then, I found out!"

Jazz gaped at him for a long moment before Phantom continued talking.

"I had just fought off this ghost, and I shifted back to human form, thinking that everyone had fled. But apparently I was wrong, because there was Paulina. And she was so excited! She promised to keep my secret, and we started dating, and it was great!"

"So how was that a bad dating experience?" Jazz asked, quirking one eyebrow. "Besides her discovering your half-ghost nature, and she didn't even spill that secret. Did she?"

"Ha, no!" He shook his head, still grinning. "It was pretty nice while it lasted. But I discovered that apparently it wasn't Paulina, not really. She was overshadowed by a ghost, and the only reason _she_ was dating me was to make her actual boyfriend jealous."

She flinched. "Uh, yikes. How could you possibly have found a _worse_ dating experience?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Phantom clapped his hands together, clearly excited. "So, as you know, Valerie Gray absolutely hated the guts of Phantom in my universe, yes?"

"Oh, Danny, _no_," Jazz said, already knowing where this was going.

"Yep!" he said, grinning manically. "My half-ghost ass decided that dating Valerie Gray, dangerous ghost huntress with a vendetta against my ghost form, was a good idea. And I still maintain that Val was _great_, and she was lovely as a partner."

"How did that even end?" Jazz asked, unsure if she wanted to know. Curiosity killed the cat, and all that. "Did she find out?"

"Huh? Oh, no." He flapped a hand, dismissive. "She broke up with me, said some vague stuff. I guess she thought it was too dangerous to date me, afraid that ghosts might target me as her partner."

Jazz wasn't sure what her face was doing, but whatever it was, it made Phantom laugh again. Something horrified, she thought.

"Well," she finally tried, somewhat feebly. "I guess that that greasy biker dude that _my_ Danny is dating isn't the worst option, then."

Phantom chuckled, then stopped, suddenly.

"Greasy biker dude?" he repeated, blankly. "What, like Johnny 13?"

Jazz felt her stomach plummet. Her body followed the feeling, and she thudded down on the grassy ground.

"You know him?"

He nodded, jerkily. "He dated my Jazz," he explained, slowly. "He was giving her all kinds of items that were contaminated with his girlfriend's power, so she was slowly possessing Jazz. Wanted her DNA so she could open the Portal for him and let out his actual girlfriend."

"Oh my god." Her core pulsed in her chest, agitated. "Holy shit, I gotta stop him."

"Want a hand?" Phantom asked, unfolding himself from his sitting position. "You could probably take him, but—"

She shook her head, pushing herself up onto her feet. "No, come. You can drag Johnny away while I swear his skin off of him."

Phantom threw back his head to laugh. "Deal," he said, between cackles.

* * *

It's the official halfway point of Absurdism, chapter 8 out of 16! Valerie is (begrudgingly) working together with Sidney, and Specter and Phantom! Because, listen. Valerie is hot-headed and hates ghosts, but she also has her priorities straight. If one (not very dangerous) ghost has information necessary to take down a bigger threat, she can focus on that. Hell, in the canon she worked together with Phantom even though she hated him with a passion.

Also I totally skated past the events of '13' but yeah that happened. Johnny 13 dated Danny Fenton in this universe. I usually hc Danny as bi but I'm not too big on romance-centric stories so I never do anything with that, haha.

Next week, chapter 9: Doppelganger! The last chapter in the fic with a title that doesn't match an episode. ;)


	9. Doppelganger

Hi folks! Here's a head's up to inform you that this chapter is a meaty 6.7k words long! If you need a break partway through this chapter, I would recommend stopping at the second scenebreak/linebreak/horizontal line. Have fun reading!

* * *

Danny let loose a barrage of (low powered) ecto-blasts, watched as Jazz' shield wavered but held. His core rumbled in his chest, proud.

Because, sure. His presence here wasn't ideal, and he supposed it wasn't strictly necessary either. Based on what he had seen, Jazz would've managed alright on her own, too. But he was here, wasn't he? So he might as well help.

Plus, there were only so many situations in which he got to help, and he got rewarded by people actually _liking_ him. As Phantom, he saved Amity's people over and over and _over_, and what did he get? Hatred and vitriol. Even the few that liked him changed their minds on a whim, like when Walker—

Oh.

Like when Walker attacked with Wulf.

Danny had completely forgotten about Wulf in this universe. Jazz never went into the Zone, so she never got in Walker's bad graces. Which meant that the prison ghost never sicced Wulf on her.

Uh. Well. That was… That was something he needed to deal with. _This_ Wulf might not know him, but still. He couldn't leave the ghost in Walker's hands.

"What are you thinking about?" Jazz asked, her voice snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" he said, eloquently.

She rolled her eyes. "You zoned out on me. What were you thinking of?"

He debated not telling her, but… he would have to go in the Zone to free Wulf. She needed to know if he wasn't around to fight ghosts for her.

Instead he shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "I just remembered something I did in my timeline that hasn't happened in this one. So I, uh. Figured I should go do that."

"Why would _you_ do that, instead of me?" she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "It's my universe, isn't it?"

Danny made a face. "I mean, yeah, but it's… complicated. Look, Jazz, it was a really rough confrontation, and one you avoided in this universe."

"Okay, so?" she challenged, crossing her arms and looking every bit the stubborn teenager she was.

"_So_," he said, "it makes more sense for _me_ to handle it than for _you_ to handle it. Besides, in my timeline I wasn't strong enough to win, and I'm not gonna make you go through the same."

"If you weren't strong enough then, what makes you so certain you are now?" Her eyes were narrowed, bright and set.

He rolled his eyes. "Because I've got two years of additional experience. It'll be fine, Jazz. And even if it won't be, I need you to stay here. In my original timeline I got Sam and Tucker to bail me out when I took too long. I need you to be that backup in this universe, alright?"

She glared at him for a moment, before inclining her head in a nod. "I guess. But I'll need to know where you're going, then."

"Right. In the Ghost Zone, kinda close to the Fenton Portal, there's this huge purple building. That's Walker's prison, and that's where I'm going to free Wulf. If I'm not back for our next training session, I need you to come look for me there."

Her eyes grew wide. "A _prison_?! You're expecting me to break you out of a _prison_?"

"Well, yeah. It's a Ghost Zone prison. Regular world stuff, including us in our human forms, can go right through it. Which is why I'm not expecting it to be much trouble, but, well." He shrugged. "You never know with Walker."

Jazz squinted at him, but nodded, slowly. "I guess," she grumbled, low. "Go flail at Walker. And Phantom… Danny?"

"Yeah?" he asked, meeting her eyes. She barely called him Danny anymore, wanted to keep him and her own brother separate. It was saved, now, for the special moments.

"Stay safe," she told him.

He grinned back. "I promise, Jazz. I'll be back before you know it."

* * *

"Bye Mom, Dad!" Jazz yelled, and the front door closed. Danny peeked over the edge of the building he'd spent the night on, meeting her eye when she glanced up.

Jazz waved, a friendly gesture. Her eyes were narrowed, however, a warning. A non-verbal "stay safe".

He waited for another moment or two before turning himself invisible. Go time.

Invisible, he left the roof. Phased through the walls and floors of FentonWorks until he reached the lab. It looked like his parents' lab usually did; shiny chrome, with all kinds of half-assembled inventions scattered everywhere, and everything lit with the sharp white light of the ceilings lights, combined with the eerie green of the Portal.

Well, no time to get nostalgic and homesick. He had a job to do!

Determined, he pushed onward and through the Portal. The Ghost Zone was…

It was just like always, really. Maybe it was just because he didn't go there all that often, but the place always looked the same to him. That's kind of why he insisted on making maps, but he would just have to do without those for once. That would be fine, right? It was only one time.

_It only took one time without supervision for him to get trapped in a different universe_, his traitorous mind whispered to him. He ignored it.

Walker's prison was pretty close to the Portal, but… but Danny didn't want to go directly there. It was selfish, yes, but he wanted to see a little more of the Zone first.

Amity Park was always his home, but _this_ Amity wasn't his. He never felt quite right, quite at home. Always had to hide, stay out of sight. In the Ghost Zone, he could just _be_. No ghost would be able to tell that he didn't belong, and even if they could, somehow? They wouldn't care.

It was just… _freeing._ To go where he wanted to, and have no one care, not really. Because in here, the ghosts could tell how strong his core was. Most wouldn't be eager to pick a fight with someone like him.

He flew, directionless and course-less. No destination in mind. Just flying for the sake of doing it.

Which, of course, was the moment he stumbled upon a familiar face.

The brakes of Johnny's bike screeched as he tried to stop before hitting Danny, twisting the handlebars to dodge. Danny jerked himself the other way, but it wasn't quite enough; his foot hooked on Johnny's leg, forcing them both to a sudden stop.

Danny coughed, pushing himself back onto his feet. Johnny hadn't fallen all the way down, but he was clinging onto his bike rather perilously.

"Shoot, sorry," Danny apologized, one hand coming up to rub his neck. "Should've been paying a little more attention to where I was flying."

Johnny squinted at him, a suspicious air about him. "Yeah, man. You lookin' for more fights, or something?"

"No, just too caught up in my thoughts. Sorry." He grinned sheepishly at Johnny, then realized… "Hey, where's Kitty? Aren't you two usually glued to each other's sides?"

"How would you know?" Johnny asked, eyes narrowing even further. Then he scoffed, shook his head, and looked away. "If it matters, we're fighting. Kitty's jealous because I keep looking at other ladies even if we're out together."

"Ah." Danny made a face and dropped his hand back to his side. "That's… unfortunate. Not to get all up in your business or anything, but… have you tried talking it out? Communication is important, y'know."

The biker ghost grumbled. "I don't want relationship advice from a little punk like you. What's it even matter to you? It's not like we're causing trouble in that city you and the girl are protecting."

"You aren't, no." Danny finally placed this moment. If this matched with his universe, and chances were that it _did_, this was when Kitty overshadowed Paulina to make Johnny jealous. And he really didn't want Jazz to deal with any of that—if she would even fall for it, knowing that it had happened to Danny. "Look, Johnny. I know Specter and I didn't make a great impression when we met, but we're not just fighting ghosts to protect humans. We want to make Amity a good place for everyone, and that includes you and Kitty whenever you come by. I don't want you two to drag innocent humans into your fight, alright? Just talk it out like grownups, yeah?"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Like grownups? You sound like a kid. How old do you think we are?"

"Not _that_ old." Danny shrugged. "Look, you get what I'm trying to say, don't you? I might not look like it, but I know a thing or two about relationships. Talk with each other, and even if it doesn't work out, at least you'll _know_ what's up. Now you're both agitated and frustrated and neither of you knows what's up."

"Ugh." Johnny grunted. "Yeah, I guess that that makes sense."

He settled back onto the bike properly, then leaned over the handlebars to point at Danny. "But I ain't doing this for you, you hear me? I'm doing this for me, and for Kitty."

"Of course," Danny agreed peaceably. "Wouldn't expect anything else."

"You'd better believe it, punk." Johnny squinted at him for a moment longer, but whatever he saw seemed to satisfy. His bike roared to life as Johnny drove off, following the narrow rocky pathways towards the Portal.

Danny watched him go for a moment, then heaved a steadying sigh. Well, that was one problem less for Jazz to deal with. But enough stalling; he should get going, before he runs into another (un)friendly face.

He made his way to the prison quickly, and then promptly realized that he hadn't actually planned ahead this far. Well, unless you count "break in and free Wulf" as a plan, which… well. _Danny_ might consider it a suitable plan, but Sam, and Tucker, and Jazz all keep telling him it's not, so. Maybe he _should_ plan ahead a little better.

The whine of a siren snapped Danny out of his thoughts and, oops. He probably should've moved a little further away from the prison he was trying to break into.

Some of Walker's guards approached him, clubs raised threateningly. Danny's muscles tensed, fingers balling into fists, energy pouring from his core.

But, no. He forcibly relaxed himself, let the guards drag him into the prison. Who needed to break into a prison, when you could just get brought into it? Sure, it was a little unconventional, but he managed to break free just fine in his own universe. The timing was a little off, but he was sure he could still count on the same ghosts.

Actually, that _would_ explain why he hasn't seen some of his regulars in a while. He had completely forgotten that Walker had arrested them in his timeline, and that they hadn't gotten free until their mutual jailbreak.

Whoops.

Rather than face off against Walker, Danny is brought directly to the regular cells. Huh. Guess that he's considered a regular rule-breaker now. More proof that Danny had so far been successful with hiding his half-ghost nature from the others, which was… good, probably? He wasn't keen on Vlad figuring out that there were two half-ghosts around for him to convince.

It didn't take long for the guards to return to bring Danny to the canteen and, ah. Yep. There were all those ghosts he'd been halfheartedly missing. He felt kind of bad—he should've remember sooner. None of these guys deserve to deal with Walker. Oh well. Live and learn, right? He could deal with the guilt later.

Danny quickly moved over, sitting down at the table with Skulker, Technus, Desiree, and the Lunch Lady. All four look rather confused to see him. Lunch Lady, especially, was squinting at him rather suspiciously.

"Whelp," Skulker said, cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

"Organizing a jailbreak." He shrugged, faux casual. "I _could_ try to break in first, but, well. This was easier."

Skulker nodded thoughtfully, but it was Desiree who spoke up, an odd tone to her voice. "You really are something else, aren't you?"

"I try." Danny grinned at her, then inclined his head towards Lunch Lady, remembering that they hadn't met in this universe. "Hi, sorry, I don't think we've met yet. I'm Phantom, and you're the Lunch Lady, yeah? I heard about you from my sister, Specter."

The suspicious expression faded from her face now that they had finally been introduced. She nodded back, hesitantly. "Yes. The girl, she was most helpful with fixing the menu."

"Yeah, she's good at that." Danny turned back to the group as a whole, where Desiree nodded in agreement. "Anyway, like I was saying. Jailbreak. Any of you guys want to help?"

Skulker's metallic face split in a ferocious grin, and Technus followed suit, baring his oddly angular teeth. Lunch Lady nodded forcefully, and Desiree gave an affirming smile as well.

All things considered, the actual jailbreak was almost laughably easy. Hell, Danny had managed it once while he was fourteen, and on much worse terms with these guys. Doing it now, with much better standings? Piece of cake.

They overwhelmed the guards quickly, storming through the prison's hallways. Danny flew along for most of the way, until he reached the junction where everyone else would head to the exit.

"Skulker," he called out, moving over to the empty pathway. "I'm gonna split. You guys stay safe, and remember Amity's rules, yeah?"

Skulker, still grinning viciously, saluted him. "You have my respect, whelp. Don't disappoint me."

And with that, he turned around and re-joined the stream of escaping ghosts.

"Well, no point in stalling," Danny muttered to himself, twisting towards the special holding cells again. "Let's go, Fenton."

He found Wulf's cell easily enough, the hallways empty and abandoned. All guards must've gone to stop the massive outbreak. A lucky break.

Once Danny had located Wulf, he shifted back to human form. He _could_ break Wulf's cell door, but he was fairly sure that Wulf could escape himself once he was free of the collar and chains. No need to draw unneeded attention.

Danny phased through the door, shivering a little at the weird feeling. It was intangibility, sure, but it wasn't quite _right_. It felt differently from regular intangibility. The lack of control, maybe?

It was dark in the cell; Danny could barely make out Wulf's cowering shape. The ghost was curled up in the corner, his black fur lit jaggedly by the glowing chains around his wrists. Two bright green eyes peered out at him, but they were narrowed to slits. Wulf didn't trust him.

That was okay, though. He could work with that.

Slowly he crept closer, knowing that Wulf couldn't get away if he wanted to. Danny crouched in front of the ghost, reached out one hand, then paused. He doesn't think he has enough power to break the collar in human form. He'll have to shift, making Wulf the first full ghost in this universe to know that Danny is half ghost.

He swallowed away his hesitation, and backed up a few steps.

Light flashed, the cell lit up bright by his transformation. He tried to make it quick, as if he could coax his shift to do such things, but it wasn't enough. Wulf had balled up even further, his ears flattened to his neck. Scared. Scared of what _Danny_ might do to him.

Danny crept closer again, hands raised placatingly. He wished he knew more Esperanto, wished that he could assure Wulf of his intentions. Instead he had to settle for trying to emit reassurance, his core rumbling soothingly in his chest.

He didn't know if it worked, or if Wulf was just too scared to fight back, but Danny got his hands on Wulf's collar. He swallowed away the hesitation, the worry, and wriggled his fingers in the tight space between the metal and Wulf's soft fur.

And he pulled.

Energy poured from his core, through his arms and his fingers. Sparked bright green, straight into the metal of the collar.

And he _pulled_.

With a hiss—or a sizzle—the collar released. It clattered onto the stone floor, emitting a shrill beep as it deactivated.

Wulf opened one hesitant eye, flicking it to the collar and then back to Danny. He tried to shoot the ghost a reassuring grin, taking his hands off of Wulf's neck again.

Rather than try to puzzle out the Esperanto, he reached for the chains on Wulf's wrists, pausing before he actually touched them. The wide green eyes followed his movement, and stilled for a moment.

Then Wulf nodded.

With this permission granted, Danny quickly stuck his fingers underneath the metal cuffs. These weren't electronic, but pure ecto-steel. All he would need for _these_ was a bit of pure ghost-powered strength.

The cuff tore open with the groan and creak of metal. Danny quickly moved over to do the same to the other cuff, freeing Wulf entirely.

When the second chain fell away, clanging against the back of the cell, Danny stood up. Backed away from Wulf again.

Wulf hesitantly raised up as well, shoulders drawn high and head held low. His ears were still flattened, and his tail twitched uncertainly.

The ghost licked his lips, then asked, haltingly, in Esperanto, _"Why did you help me?"_

"_It's a long story,"_ Danny answered with a shrug. Even if he wanted to explain, he couldn't. He wasn't _that_ fluent in Esperanto. _"But you are free now."_

"_Free?"_ Wulf repeated, ears slowly rising up. His eyes seemed extra bright, now, and didn't move away from Danny. His tail twitched more vigorously, like a restrained wag. _"I… am free?"_

"_Well…"_ Danny shrugged vaguely, unsure of how to make it any more clear. "Uh, yeah."

Realizing that he'd said the last in English, he instead settled for making vague shooing motions at Wulf.

This, at least, had some effect on the ghost. Wulf's muscles coiled, and with a sudden twitch, he unsheathed his claws.

Except the ghost bounded forward, suddenly, lunging towards Danny. He had just a single moment of doubt, _had he somehow misjudged this situation?_, before Wulf's furry arm wrapped around him, dragging him along. He could hear a tearing noise, and then suddenly the cell was gone.

Oh. Of course. Wulf had grabbed him and taken them outside Walker's prison. That made perfect sense.

Wulf had perked up now that they were outside the prison—and the Ghost Zone as a whole—because he stood tall again, his ears perked up and his tail wagging.

"_Tell the story?"_ Wulf asked, cocking his head at Danny. _"Why did you free me?"_

Danny hesitated, taking a moment to look around them. They seemed to be in the woods somewhere in the human world, but he didn't know where, exactly. He turned back to Wulf with an apologetic face. _"I don't speak very good Esperanto,"_ he explained. _"Sorry."_

He wished he could explain, though. Wulf already knew about him being half-ghost, and Danny was sure he could trust Wulf. And—

And Wulf could make portals between worlds. Maybe he could even make one _home_.

Danny's core churned with an unnameable emotion. Pain, regret, guilt. Could he somehow…

With a flash, he shifted back to human form. He patted down his trousers, quickly, ignoring Wulf's confused look.

There! Danny pulled his phone out of his pocket, holding down the power button. He had realized, very quickly after coming here, that his phone was almost completely useless. He _could_ use it for entertainment, sure, but no one could call or text him, and he couldn't charge it regularly enough for it to really be useful. So he had turned it off, intending to save the charge so he could call his friends when he got home.

He opened the internet browser, quickly navigating to Google Translate. His fingers darted over the keyboard, and when he was happy with his message, he clicked the translate button. It wouldn't be perfect, sure, but hopefully it would get the message across.

"_It is a weird complicated story,"_ his phone started reciting, and Wulf perked up even further. He crept in a little closer, focus entirely on the phone in Danny's hand as it continued to speak. _"I am actually from a different universe. I am half ghost, and I accidentally traveled through a portal to this world. In my own universe, we are friends. Walker tried to have you attack me, but my friends and I took off your collar, and you helped me protect my town. I know that you are not the same Wulf, but I wanted to help you anyway, to repay you for everything you have done for me."_

They waited in silence for a moment, then Wulf nodded, a grin appearing on his face. _"I am glad,"_ he said, tail wagging energetically, _"that in another universe, I have made a friend so good that it carried over to another world entirely."_

Danny didn't quite understand that whole thing, but he thought he got the gist anyway. He grinned back. "_Well, you're my friend."_

"_Still, I wish I could help."_ Wulf flexed his paws, almost experimentally, but his grin faltered. _"I wish I could open a portal home for you, but I can't. Only between here and the Ghost Zone."_

His core stuttered, churned painfully. That figured. He hadn't thought that Wulf could, not really, but still. It hurt.

"_It's not your fault,"_ he assured Wulf anyway, patting his massive furry forearm. _"I'll figure something out."_

"_I still want to do _something_ in return,"_ Wulf insisted, shoving his head against Danny's shoulder. _"Anything to help my friend."_

Well, now his core heaved for an entirely different reason. Danny moved his hand to Wulf's forehead, thinking it over. With one hand, he tapped out a new message on his phone.

"_There is one option,"_ it started, and Wulf's ears twisted towards the phone again. _"In this universe, someone else is half ghost in my place. My sister. She is just as young as I was, and has less support. I think she will be okay, but it would be nice to be sure."_

Wulf pulled his head away from Danny's shoulder, nodding vigorously. _"It would be my pleasure to watch over your sister in your stead."_

"_Good."_ Danny rubbed his hand through Wulf's fur, rugged but surprisingly soft, considering the circumstances. _"Thank you, Wulf."_

It would be good to know that Jazz was safe when he left.

If he ever got to leave.

* * *

Harried footsteps echoed through the street as Danny turned down an alley. The heavy footfalls behind him continued; both Sam and Tucker wore boots instead of sneakers.

Light flashed in front of them, pale blue light bouncing off of the alley's walls. Danny stopped, Sam and Tucker right behind him.

He cleared his throat, and the ghost mere feet away startled visibly. Its—_his—_bright green eyes shot upwards, towards Danny. The expression was _so_ human, far more human than his parents' research suggested. And it was undeniably guilty.

The ghost knew exactly who Danny was.

Slowly, the ghost clipped the Fenton Thermos in his hands back onto his white belt. From this close, Danny could tell that the entire outfit closely resembled the jumpsuit his parents had made for him, with the colors inverted. He wondered, darkly, how often the ghost had spied on them to mimic it so closely.

"Um," the ghost said, then halted, like he hadn't quite thought out what he _actually_ wanted to say. He fidgeted with the cuff of one of his white gloves. His eyes, wide and unnaturally bright green, darted between the three humans opposing him.

"We need to talk," Danny told him, trying to make it sound like a threat. They hadn't brought anything to trap the ghost, and even if he _appeared_ cornered, Danny knew he wasn't. Intangibility was a bitch.

The ghost shifted, like he was strongly contemplating leaving. He grimaced. "Well, um. What about? It's not like we've… met, ha ha."

Really, he could not look any more awkward. It was almost impressive. If only the situation had been, well. Not this.

Danny glared at the ghost, and Phantom made a face. He didn't leave.

"Don't be an idiot," Danny snapped. His nails dug into his palms as he clenched his fists. "I don't know who you are, and quite frankly, I don't give a fuck. You can haunt Amity Park all you want, and I wouldn't give a single damn! But you're messing with my sister, and I can't let that fucking slide."

Phantom shifted guiltily. He opened his mouth, but Danny cut him off before he could speak.

"I don't want to hear it! Whatever dumb excuse you're gonna give, I don't want it. I _know_ Specter is my sister, that she's Jazz. I saw her go from human to ghost, when you two were fighting that shadow-y ghost. She was _knocked out_, you know that? And when she got up, she just went back out again, and I had to _let her_! Because I couldn't tell her I know! Because _you_ somehow convinced her that— that you're her brother, or whatever!"

Phantom's mouth tightened into a thin line. His eyes, still luminous and green, narrowed. He waited for several seconds after Danny stopped talking, before asking, caustic, "Are you finished?"

"No!" Danny snapped back. "You're a fucked-up mess of a ghost, and you don't even seem to realize how fucked up any of this is! You fucking _modeled_ yourself after me, like an image of me as a fucking _ghost_! And somehow you convinced Jazz that you really _are_ me, that you're her actual brother, yet she barely talks to me. She probably spends more time with you than with me, because she doesn't realize there's a difference! And it's _your_ god_damn_ fault!"

The ghost lunged forward, and Danny's heart stuttered, missed a beat. For a moment, he'd forgotten than he'd been yelling at a being strong enough to eviscerate him with barely any effort.

But Phantom didn't cross the entire distance between them. He landed on the ground with such force that dust blew away, but without a single noise.

Light flashed through the alley again, bright white like lightning. It danced around Phantom, so blinding that Danny was forced to close his eyes. When it faded, when he could see again…

It was like looking in a mirror.

Phantom looked… _human_. His flesh was visibly warmer, the tone just slightly pinker, and his eyes were as sky blue as Danny's own. His hair, previously white as snow, was now jet black. And his characteristic jumpsuit, the feature he seemed to have stolen right from the adult Fentons, had been replaced by clothes that could've been Danny's own. A little more ragged than he would normally prefer them, sure, but still…

"Wow," Sam breathed behind Danny, barely audible.

And the ghost—human?—smirked, wide and cocky. He threw out his hands demonstratively. "And that's where you're wrong! Because I _am_ her brother, pal."

Danny stepped forward before he really knew it, his hands wrapped up in Phantom's shirt. It was like he was moving on auto-pilot, taking a backseat in the whole process.

His brain supplied, remarkably unhelpfully, that Phantom's shirt felt oddly real. Not cold or slick like ectoplasmic clothing.

"You ain't _shit_," Danny growled in Phantom's face, in that mirror image of his own. "You think you're a big fucking deal, some kinda big savior, protecting our weak pathetic fleshy people from the ghost invasion, but you're _nothing_. It's all a fucking cover so no one can see the damage you're _really_ doing."

Phantom's eyes narrowed, the irises briefly flooding with bright green before they faded back to blue. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said, coldly. His hands wrapped around Danny's wrists. They were chilly, too cold. There was no force behind them.

"Don't I? You're out here, pretending to be Jazz' brother, and you don't expect me to be pissed about that? Shouldn't you know better?" He let go of Phantom's shirt. The last thing he needed was for the ghost to break his wrists when it got tired of being held.

"I'm not _pretending_," Phantom hissed, eyes narrowed. "And I don't give a damn about what you think of me. I've lived through the whole town hating me, through my own _parents_ hating me. You're nothing compared to all that."

Sam scoffed, somewhere behind Danny, and he jerked. He'd almost forgotten that his friends were here, too.

"If you care so little about our opinions, why are you still here?"

Phantom's mouth tightened again, his eyes darting over to Sam. His eyebrows were drawn together. He almost looked _pained_. "That's… complicated."

"More complicated than pretending to be Danny Fenton, son of avid ghost hunters?" Tucker asked, scathingly. "More complicated than pretending to be, what, _half_ ghost?"

"None of that is _pretend_," Phantom snarled. His eyes flickered green again as he clenched his fists. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, because you're not _telling_ us, dude." Tucker huffed, crossing his arms. His eyes were hard.

"I…" Phantom halted, then shook his head. "I can't. I shouldn't." He refused to meet Tucker's eyes. Or Sam's.

He looked uncomfortably human.

"You gotta tell us _something_," Danny snapped at the ghost. Because that's what Phantom was. Just a _ghost_. "You're messing with my sister. And even if you're not _actively_ pretending to be me, well. I find it hard to believe that you're missing the implications here."

Phantom snorted. "I'm not an idiot, yeah. Why do you think no one but Jazz has seen me like this yet?"

Some cold burrowed in Danny's chest. No one but Jazz. So that meant that Jazz _had_ seen it. Had seen Phantom pull off a shift so similar to her own, which had made him look just like Danny.

"No one but Jazz, and now us," Sam pointed out. "Why break the pattern for us?"

Phantom shrugged. His eyes had moved over to Sam, but he dragged them back to Danny almost immediately. "I fucked up."

"So now what?" she asked, crossing her arms as well. "Are you finally going to tell us why this is all _so_ complicated? Or are you going to continue pretending Tucker and I don't exist?"

The ghost flushed, suddenly, his shoulders coming up. Somehow, against all logic, it was red.

Ghosts were supposed to flush green, weren't they?

"It's—"

"Complicated?" Tucker finished for him, dryly. "Try something new, man."

"I'm…" Phantom paused again, then sighed. His shoulders sunk down like the weight of the world was on him. He looked so forlorn that Danny almost felt guilty.

Phantom reached into one of his pockets, producing a mobile phone. It looked remarkably modern, if a little scuffed up. Was that stolen?

It was quiet for a few moments as Phantom messed around with the phone. Finally, however, he seemed satisfied. He held it out towards the three of them.

Sam and Tucker leaned in closer, and Danny took the phone from Phantom. On the screen was a photo of… the three of them. But not one they had taken, he was sure. They were in his parents lab, he thought, and they were all smiling.

"Keep scrolling," Phantom said. Danny did.

The next photo was of just Sam and Tucker. They were still in the lab, and both holding ecto-weaponry. In front of them was some sort of shooting range, with shots clustered on two of the targets. They looked like they were arguing, but it was good-natured.

They definitely hadn't taken this photo. How had Phantom gotten it? Were there more shapeshifting ghosts like him?

Danny's stomach squirmed. Sam reached over his hands to click over to the next photo. Sam stood impassively, arms crossed, watching Tucker. Tucker, who seemed to be holding an energetic conversation with an enormous bipedal wolf. A _ghost_ wolf.

"Keep going," Phantom instructed, quietly.

It was the three of them again, except… except Phantom was there, instead of Danny. His green eyes were scrunched up, his smile wide. Sam and Tucker, on either side of him, were grinning equally widely. A smear of green ectoplasm sat on Sam's cheek, but she didn't seem to care.

"You'll know," Phantom told them, and his voice was almost impossible to make out over the rushing sound in Danny's ears. The phone shook with such force that he could barely hit the button to move over to the next picture.

It was a picture of the living room of their house. Jazz sat on the couch, a book held loosely in her hand. She wasn't looking at it, though. No, she was looking at Danny, who seemed to have fallen asleep next to her. He leaned against her, his head on her shoulder. Danny looked about sixteen, the right age, but Jazz…

Jazz looked like she was eighteen.

Phantom took the phone back from Danny's stiff fingers. "Like I said. Complicated."

"What the hell, dude." Tucker blinked at the two of them, at Danny and at Phantom. "What the fuck was that?"

The ghost shrugged loosely. "I'm sure you can figure that out yourself." He pressed the power button on his phone, then stuffed it back in his pocket.

"So you're, what. From another universe?" Sam asked. Her voice was a mixture of disbelief and awe, Danny thought, but it was hard to say for sure.

"Basically." Phantom shrugged. He seemed awkward, now, but no closer to fleeing than he was at the start. "I kind of… accidentally came here. Portals in the Ghost Zone can lead to any point in time, but apparently to different worlds as well. I… didn't realize. Didn't realize I wasn't home until I met… Jazz."

"So you lied to her." Danny frowned at him. It sounded… well, like bullshit, but he supposed it was possible. He couldn't think of a more likely explanation, at least. "You made her believe that you were _me_."

"No," Phantom denied immediately, shaking his head. "No, never. I told her the truth from the start. She knows I'm not you. I'm just training her, just her mentor."

"Then why does she barely spend time with me anymore? Why does she spend more time with _you_ than with _me_?"

"You think she _enjoys_ that?" Phantom made a face, lip curled in… disgust? "Fuck, dude. She's been trying to spend time with you for ages. She _hates_ that she's spending more time with me than with you. She doesn't even call me _Danny_, only Phantom. It's not me, it's _you_."

Danny's heart felt like it stopped, like it had turned into a clump of ice lodged in his chest.

"So if Jazz isn't trying to use you as a replacement for her brother, why _is_ she spending so much time with you?" Sam asked while Danny was still trying to process this revelation.

Phantom rolled his eyes, then raised a hand. Blue light flashed, and then suddenly he had… something. Was twirling something smooth and shiny between his fingers. Ice? Ice was something Phantom could do, right? "If _you_ suddenly became half-ghost, and ran into a half-ghost version of someone you knew, a half-ghost with two-and-a-half years of experience, wouldn't _you_ spend time with them?"

He clenched his fist, and suddenly the ice was gone. Phantom's hand wasn't even wet. "I offered to teach her while I was around, and I help fight ghosts so she's not as overwhelmed as I was. And the timelines seem pretty similar so far, so I know roughly what's coming up, and I can help her figure out the tougher ghosts."

"You're a source of information," Tucker said, understanding in his voice. Realization dawned on Danny, too. Phantom wasn't a replacement; he was the half-ghost equivalent of a library. Jazz didn't get comfort from him because he was _family_, but because he _knew_.

"Yeah, basically." Phantom shrugged, but he didn't seem as tense anymore. "And backup. I had… well, you two. If I ever got in over my head, I was backed up by my Sam and Tucker, and later on, by my older sister Jazz as well. But _your_ Jazz, this Jazz, she doesn't have that."

"But what about your own world?" Sam narrowed her eyes at Phantom, considering. "If you were the only half-ghost there, shouldn't you go back? Don't they miss you?"

Phantom clicked his tongue. "I can't. Portals in the Ghost Zone are unreliable, so I have no way of making sure I get there. It's better if I stick around here, where I have _some_ system in place, and where I can help. Plus, if I stay in one place I'll be easier to find."

"I'm not saying that Sam and Tucker aren't great," Danny said, past the emotions still lodged in his throat, "But are you really expecting those two to find you in a different _universe_?"

Sam scowled at him, and the itch in his neck made him suspect that Tucker was doing the same from behind him. What? He was just being realistic!

"Them, or Jazz." Phantom shrugged at his incredulous look. "There's this invention that can track me to bizarre extents. Jazz once used it to send me a message while I was ten years in the future. And if that doesn't work, I have a ghost ally who owns an enchanted map, which can find portals to anywhere and anywhen you want, as long as it's in the Ghost Zone."

A heavy silence fell. Apparently Danny wasn't the only one who saw the problem with that.

"So then why aren't they here yet?" Tucker finally asked, conceding defeat. "You've been here for weeks, man."

Phantom's shoulders sunk down even further, his face falling. "Yeah," he agreed. "I know."

"So… now what?" Sam frowned at Phantom. "You're just gonna stay here indefinitely?"

"Might as well." Phantom sighed, heavy and exhausted. "Like I said, there's no point in going looking for a portal back. Wulf can't make a portal like that, and Frostbite only let me use the map because I fought the Ghost King. I haven't done that in this universe, so there's no way he'll trust me with that priceless artifact."

"Sounds rough." Tucker threw a look at Danny, then Sam, then Phantom again. "Can we help? You, or Jazz?"

Phantom shrugged once more. "I mean, I don't know. My Jazz figured out my secret at the same time as you guys figured out Jazz, but she held off with telling me because she figured I could manage with Sam and Tucker. It wasn't until that time traveling thing during the CAT test that she dropped enough of a hint for me."

"Alright, well…" Danny took a deep fortifying breath. "How about this. You keep up your training with Jazz, but stay in touch with us. I want to know what's going on, and I want to keep an eye on you. If she looks like she needs us… needs _me_, we'll tell her we know. Until then…"

"You want to get closer again." Phantom nodded, and Danny was startled at how understanding he seemed. "Hey, don't give me that look. I grew apart from my older sibling too, when I became half-ghost. Then we suddenly got closer again, after she figured me out."

"Oh." Danny licked his lips. He wasn't sure if it was meant to be comforting, but… it made him feel better anyway. Knowing that even Jazz, perfectly brilliant human being, had made this mistake.

There was still room for things to get better.

"Well, let us know if you need anything," Sam insisted. "As you probably know, I'm rich. I could easily hide you in our mansion if you need to sleep somewhere that isn't a rooftop, or whatever you've been doing so far."

That startled a laugh out of Phantom. "Jazz has been letting me use her bed while she's at school," he admitted, grinning weakly. "But thanks, I might take you up on that. I've gotten seriously nocturnal though, fair warning."

* * *

People have been asking for it for ages, and it's finally here! Danny and Phantom meet! Human Danny is a bit of a swearing machine, though, a habit which Phantom dropped to help keep his heroic guise up. Exposed to Danny's swearing, though, Phantom starts too. A lot of fun to write, though, that conversation! Their confrontation (with Sam and Tucker present) was one of the first scenes I planned for Absurdism, but it needed a fair bit of setting up, hence why it had to wait until now.

No matter how badly he wanted to avoid the whole talk, Phantom can't stand lying to his best friends about... all this, basically. He hasn't seen his own Sam and Tucker for forever, and he was already feeling extra homesick with his travel to the Ghost Zone, so he caved.

Next week, chapter 10: Maternal Instinct


	10. Maternal Instinct

"Jazz, honey?"

Jazz jerked awake—not that she'd been asleep, of course—and blinked blearily. It took her a moment to realize that her mom had yelled from downstairs.

"Yeah?" she called back, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Ugh. Being half-ghost was seriously exhausting. Maybe she should ask Phantom if it's normal for her powers to cost so much energy.

"Can you come down, sweetie?"

She pushed herself to her feet, walking to the top of the stairs. "Yeah, Mom?"

"Pack your bags! I got an invite to a mother-daughter science symposium in Florida! Doesn't that sound fun?"

Jazz perked up further. "A mother-daughter science symposium? When is it?"

"This weekend. Don't worry about homework—if you don't have enough time to finish it, I'll make sure to write a note for your teachers."

"That sounds great, Mom." Jazz grinned at her. Since she'd become half-ghost, she hadn't spent much time around her family. Danny was always busy with Sam and Tucker, and her parents were so busy with all that ghost stuff… This was a great opportunity!

Her dad joined her mom, bumping her gently. Or, well. As gently as Jack Fenton could. "And, to make sure you'll be protected from rogue ghost attacks on the road, I made this." He held out an invention of some sort, a segmented metal belt with a lock in the front. "I'm calling it the Specter Deflector! It needs a little more work, but it'll be ready before you leave. It'll repel and weaken any ghost who comes in direct contact with you!"

Maddie took the belt, looking it over admiringly. "Ooh. Thanks, hon." She pressed a kiss against his cheek. "You're the best."

"I'll go pack my stuff!" Jazz shouted at them, already turning around. Look, she could fight ghosts all day, but watching her parents get all lovey-dovey? No thanks.

Besides, she could be sure they were distracted now. This was a perfect opportunity to go talk with Phantom, let him know that she would be gone for the weekend. Hopefully it wouldn't be like last time, but, well. What were the chances that Vlad would ruin _another_ family-bonding weekend trip for her?

She shifted to her ghost form with ease, turned herself invisible and intangible to fly the short distance to Phantom unnoticed. As usual, he was hiding on a rooftop nearby; it was still too early for him to patrol Amity.

"Hey Jazz," he greeted her when she dropped her invisibility. "What's up?"

"Mom got an invite for a mother-daughter symposium this weekend, so I was hoping you would be fine with covering the ghost attacks for me," she explained. "I could really use some time to just… bond with my family."

"Of course, always," Phantom immediately assured her, before he frowned. "Wait. Mother-daughter symposium… Organized by DALV?"

"I… don't know?" Her core thrummed with concern. "Why? What's wrong with it?"

He shook his head dispassionately. "Try flipping the name around."

"DALV… oh my god." She groaned loudly. "Really, Vlad? God, I can't believe I didn't catch that. Is he going to attack Mom, or something?"

"Well, besides the fact that he's going to crash your private plane _conveniently_ near his mansion with no phone so he can woo Mom and convince you to join him?" Phantom shrugged, faux casual. "Nah, you two will be fine. But in my universe he used my absence to send vicious ghosts after Dad."

"Oh." She looked down, watched her feet shuffle uncertainly on the rooftop. "So you… won't come with? Just to be sure Vlad won't do anything?"

Phantom sighed, deep and pensive. "I… don't think it would be a good idea. Dad made it through Vlad's attack in my universe, but I'm not sure _how_. I just… I don't want to risk it not panning out the same, y'know? Besides, you're smarter than me, and more competent than me, _and_ better trained than me. You'll be fine. Trust yourself, Jazz."

She made a face. Trust herself? She wasn't half as competent a fighter as Phantom. There was no way she could stand up against Vlad, if push came to shove. "Yeah, alright," she said anyway. "I get it. If I asked you to come along, and when we got back we discovered that… that." She paused.

"Yeah, exactly," Phantom said, clearly knowing what she was trying to say. "Look. I know that it's… hard, to be half-ghost. Your only examples of other half-ghosts have years of experience over you, so you'll always feel like you're just… plodding along. That you're not as good as them. I know. I remember what it was like. I'm pretty sure that, in my original universe, this was the weekend that I had planned to figure out duplication, because I felt so bad that Vlad could do it and I couldn't. But trust me, Jazz, when I say you're way better than I was."

She scoffed disbelievingly.

"No, really." He nudged her, gently. "Sam and Tucker and I were training, right? A general check-up on my powers, how good everything was, down in the lab. During the intangibility test I hit the wall at full speed, because I didn't _quite_ have a good enough grip on it yet. Forget making a decent shield. I know that it's hard not to compare yourself to my current level, Jazz, but I'm still more than two years ahead of you. You'll get there."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. It was more comforting than it had any right to be. "Besides, strength isn't everything. Your greatest advantage over me will always be your intelligence, Jazz, and don't forget it. Not everything is about punching your way out of a bad situation."

"Alright." And she tried to let herself believe it, really. "You've convinced me. If it comes down to it, I'll fight Vlad with my smarts."

"There you go!" He grinned at her, his green eyes vibrant and sparkling. "And I know just where to start! Let me know when Dad finishes the Specter Deflector, will you? I know how to tweak its coding so it ignores certain ecto-signatures, so I can make sure it doesn't work on us."

She smiled back. "That sounds great. Thank you, Phantom."

"Don't mention it," he said. His grin was almost completely genuine.

* * *

Jazz watched her Mom shear through some more plants with the machete she (_apparently_) had hidden in her boot. Phantom had said that they would be alright, but still… she wasn't looking forward to whatever might come next.

Her mom gasped, and Jazz jerked her eyes back forward. In front of them laid a large building, ornate and grand.

Vlad's mansion.

"Or maybe we could stay at this ritzy mountain chalet," Maddie suggested, humor in her tone. "I'm open."

Jazz opened her mouth to reply, but a horn honked and she shut her mouth. A golf cart pulled up, driven by no one else but…

"Vlad Masters?" Maddie gasped.

"Oh, what an amazing, unexpected, and totally unplanned surprise," he purred back, leaning over the steering wheel. "Might I offer you two a stay in my luxurious chalet?"

Maddie laughed, climbing into the seat next to Vlad. "Well, if you insist…"

Looked like they were, in fact, doing this. Jazz rolled her eyes but climbed into the back of the golf cart, letting Vlad drive them back to the mansion. Even if Phantom was sure that Vlad wouldn't harm her mom, she still intended to stay close and be sure. Although Maddie _was_ wearing the Specter Deflector, so she would probably be fine. Assuming it worked, which, knowing her dad, wasn't guaranteed.

Vlad led them into a large cozy room, with stupendously large chairs and hunting trophies all along the wall. Vlad was a hunter? Color her surprised.

"So, what brings you two to these parts?" Vlad asked, watching them wander around in the room. "Not that I am unhappy to see you two, of course, but we are quite far from Amity Park."

Jazz watched her mom pull a book from a shelf, glancing through it. "You would never believe it," Maddie said, not looking up. "We were on our way to this symposium, and our pilot forced us out of the plane right over your house."

"Yes, what a rather convenient coincidence." Jazz scoffed.

Vlad narrowed his eyes at her. "Yes, you two are certainly lucky to have landed so nearby. But…" He slid closer to Maddie, leaning on the bookshelf next to her. "Maddie, I'm so glad you're here. It gives me the chance to apologize for Jack's behavior at our college reunion."

"Wasn't Dad possessed by a ghost?" Jazz asked, tone light. Her mom had barely even glanced at Vlad. "A filthy, putrid piece of ectoplasm?"

Vlad shot her another glare, his eyes briefly flaring red. He then turned back, snapping Maddie's book shut and taking it out of her hand entirely. Rude.

"Well," Vlad said laconically, "If he hadn't been so weak, perhaps that never would have happened, hm?"

"Now, Vlad, Jack might be a bumbler, but he means well." Maddie looked at him briefly, before turning back to the bookshelves.

Vlad rolled his eyes, sliding the book in his hands back into place. "I know, Maddie. And I've forgiven him for many things: causing the accident that ruined my life, stealing you, the backwash incident—"

"Whoa, back up." Maddie jerked back to attention, her voice a little shrill. She was looking right at Vlad, now. "What was that?"

He blinked at her, innocently. "Causing the accident that ruined my life?"

Her eyes narrowed. "No, after that."

"The… backwash incident?" he tried.

Maddie growled exasperatedly, gesturing with a hand. "_No_. In the middle!"

"Oh, the stealing you part?" Vlad's eyes went big, like he'd been surprised, before leaning closer to Maddie. "Ah, you always _could_ see right through me."

Jazz was pleased to see her mom jerk backwards, looking rather uncomfortable. Unfortunately, Vlad didn't leave it at that.

"Oh, Maddie, I'm just going to come right out with it. Please dump Jack and stay here. You and Jazz both can. What do you say?"

It was like her mom had been frozen solid. Her hands had balled into tight fists, her shoulders hard and tense. She looked a second away from punching Vlad.

"Jazz," Maddie said, voice low and flat, "Come on, we're leaving."

And leave, she did. Maddie whirled around, stomping back towards the exit of the mansion. Jazz quickly followed after her, shooting a worried glance towards the windows. It had gone dark outside. They would have to rough it through the night anyway.

Hurried footsteps chased after them, but Vlad stopped in the doorway.

"Mark my words, Maddie!" he shouted after them, his voice loud in the quiet woods. "Nobody says no to Vlad Masters! You will rue the day that you spurned my affection!"

"What a creep," Jazz muttered under her breath.

They wandered deeper into the woods, where her mom set up a camp with frightening efficiency. Before Jazz knew it, a wooden shelter had been set up, and a campfire roared in front of her.

Maddie sat down next to her, the light of the fire glinting off of her metal belt. "Jazz, this weekend certainly isn't turning out like I planned. But we're spending it together, and that just means the world to me."

Carefully, she placed her hand on Jazz'. It tingled, slightly, a barely-there buzz. Jazz supposed that the Specter Deflector picked up on the ambient ectoplasm around her.

"I know," she told her mom, smiling softly. "I'm glad that we're out here together, too."

"Let's just get some sleep, and we'll figure out what to do next tomorrow." Maddie stood up, grabbing both sleeping bags and dragging them into the shelter.

Jazz followed her, taking her own sleeping bag and lying down. "Good night, Mom."

"Good night, Jazz. I love you."

She smiled, softly, her eyes closed. "Love you too."

Of course, the peace didn't last. Jazz had barely closed her eyes before her core stirred, her ghost sense misting out of her mouth.

She was just considering if she could get away with taking care of it without her mom noticing when a loud roar broke the quiet. Maddie jerked upright immediately, her head turning towards the entrance of the shelter. Jazz followed her gaze, and, oh.

In the opening of the shelter, she could see a short, curled leg, with enormous claws. It looked like a bear's, except that _this_ bear glowed and had bright green fur.

"Ghost," her mom muttered unnecessarily. "I'll take care of it."

"Uh. Okay?" Jazz stayed hunkered down, watching her mom dig through her utility belt, before she pulled out a faintly glowing rope. "You have weapons in there?"

"Of course I do." Maddie raised a questioning eyebrow. "But this is just phase-proof rope. I'll tie it down and make sure there aren't more."

"Sounds good," she said. And it did, she supposed. She just had to trust her mom to handle it. It would be fine, right? Maddie was an experienced ghost hunter. She could handle a single animal ghost.

Maddie jumped out of the shelter with the rope between her hands, tripping up the ghost in the same movement. For a brief moment, Jazz could see the whole animal. It really _was_ a bear, except even bigger than regular bears, with six arms and bright red eyes.

Before she could consider jumping in and helping, her Mom had the animal pinned. The Specter Deflector buzzed loudly, sparks dancing over Maddie's jumpsuit and into the bear. She tied it up with the ecto-rope like it was nothing.

Huh. Looked like the Specter Deflector worked fine. That was good to know.

Jazz crept out of the shelter as well, sidling up close to Maddie. "Mom, that was awesome!"

"Oh, Jazz, thank you." Maddie smiled down at her, lit by the dying fire. For a moment, Jazz' core felt full, rumbling pleasantly.

And then her ghost sense went off again, and she just barely held in the cold mist that formed.

Luckily—or was it?—she didn't need to figure out a way to warn her mom, because another animal ghost pushed its way through the bushes, growling loudly. And another. And another. And, oh boy, _another_.

"That's… a lot of them," Maddie said, slowly. She reached down in her belt with one hand. "Jazz, are you ready to move?"

"Uh huh." She shuffled a step or two back, away from the ghosts. They growled louder in response.

There was no way they could outrun a wolf, ghostly or not.

"Let's go!" her mom shouted, sprinting away. Jazz waited a beat before following, tugging on her core and hoping this stupid plan would work. She hadn't practiced using her powers in human form much, and by god did she regret it now. Definitely something to work on when she was back in Amity.

Her core churned loud in her chest. Behind her, the clearing grew brighter, like the fire had been stirred up, casting their immediate vicinity in golden light.

The ghost wolves behind them yelped as they ran into her shield, feeble as it was.

Jazz kept running.

Eventually they came to a stop, the clearing around them dark. Jazz looked around warily, but her core remained still. Even with her enhanced vision, it was hard to make out details.

"I think we got away from them," she said, breathing heavily. "We need to figure out a way to call Dad. Or to leave, at least."

"As much as I hate to say this," Maddie admitted, "I think we should go back to Vlad's."

Jazz jerked, her eyes flying to her mom. "But— He said all those terrible things about Dad!"

"We both know he's a creep. But he's a creep with a phone and transportation." Maddie sighed, then unlocked her Specter Deflector.

Before Jazz could stop her, the belt clicked closed around her own waist.

"Here. This will keep you safe if those ghosts come back."

"Right. Um. Thanks, Mom." She watched as the key was tucked back into Maddie's utility belt. "Uh. Do you know which way Vlad's mansion is?"

* * *

Danny's ghost sense went off, and he immediately perked up. Several animal ghosts stormed over the streets towards FentonWorks.

"Looks like it's showtime," he grumbled, pushing himself to his feet. He shifted into Phantom mid-step, jumping off of the roof when he reached it.

The ghosts had made it before he could, so Danny turned himself invisible when he phased inside. And boy, was he glad he did, because Jack stood armed and ready. The entryway around him was splattered with ectoplasm, the remains of earlier ghosts.

Danny darted around him, figuring that Jack could handle the downstairs, and he would take upstairs. He turned the corner and dropped his invisibility, figuring he'd better preserve his energy.

Another ghost phased through one of the upper walls, rabbit-like. Y'know, if rabbits were bright green, the size of a dog, and armed with tusk-like teeth.

He charged an ecto-blast, hitting the animal square in the side. It thudded against the wall, immediately dissolving into ectoplasm. Ah, yes, that was right. Vlad's little animal critters were incredibly unstable.

Man, this was bringing back some unfortunate memories.

Two boars phased through the ceiling, and Danny gladly blasted them, too. Their ectoplasm splattered onto the ceiling, and he grimaced. Whoops. Sorry to whoever would have to clean that up.

"What are you doing?"

He froze, then turned around, slowly. Plastered a sheepish grin onto his face. "Uh. Saving your dad?"

"Yeah?" Danny Fenton asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "By splattering ectoplasm everywhere?"

He shrugged. "Kinda. Vlad sent a bunch of unstable animal ghosts here to kill Jack. I dunno how Dad survived them in my own universe, but I figured I would lend a hand here."

"Vlad… Vlad _Masters_?" his alternate universe version asked, and oh yeah, he hadn't mentioned that part before, had he? "Ugh, never mind. Where's Dad?"

"Downstairs." His core coiled, and he breathed out blue mist on his next exhale. "Oh, here they come again."

Other Danny nodded, ducking past him and rushing towards the stairs. "You're an idiot if you think Dad made it through a fight like this alone."

"What? There was no one— oh. Duh." Danny shook his head, turning to follow his human counterpart. "Jazz must've helped him."

"If she could, so can I." He didn't even blink when Danny turned himself invisible again, rushing down the stairs and entryway.

They were just in time to watch two bird-like ghosts divebomb Jack, knocking the weapon out of his hands. Danny jerked upwards to avoid it, but human Danny jumped and caught it.

He glanced downwards at it, then back at the ghosts, a determined expression on his face. He put a finger on the button, then rushed towards the ghosts. Danny made a face but followed right behind, ready to blast away the ghosts if necessary.

His human counterpart pressed the button, revealing the invention to be the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails. He managed to tangle the ghosts in the cables, slamming them both against the floor. They destabilized in one hit, their ectoplasm splattering on the floor and walls.

"Wow!" Jack exclaimed, pushing himself to his feet. "Good job, Danno!"

Danny ignored the curdling in his stomach. It wasn't _his_ dad, and he wasn't praising _him_.

"Thanks Dad," Danny's voice answered. "Here, take this back. You got an ectogun for me, or something?"

He didn't want to stay close, but… he _was_ the only half-ghost here. If anyone had to take any hits, or shield the others, it would be him.

Besides, he _had_ kind of accidentally dragged this universe's version of him into this. Jazz would end him if he got her brother killed.

Still, he could break from them while those two searched for weapons.

There were more ghosts upstairs, and Danny occupied himself for a while blasting those apart. A bear, oversized and six-armed, lunged for him, and Danny raised his arm to blast it away.

A green bolt of ectoplasm flew past him, hitting the animal before he could.

He froze, looking over his shoulder to find… ah, human Danny, of course. He'd swapped his clothes for a jumpsuit, close-fitting but bright orange. Not his own, then. In his arms, he held a large ectogun.

"I had it," Danny grumbled at him, rolling his eyes.

"Sure you did," his human counterpart said, lightly. "Let me get a few shots in too, will ya? Someone's gotta have Jazz' back when you leave."

And, ugh. He had a point there.

"Alright, you take point, then." Danny flew back, hovering over the ghost hunter. "I'll shield you if necessary."

"Sweet," other Danny whistled, a grin on his face. His ectogun whined, then shot another brilliant green bolt, blasting apart the ghost that had just phased through the wall. "You got some way to track these guys?"

"Kinda. I can sense ghosts, and direction if I focus, but nothing really solid."

"Good enough." Human Danny heaved his gun onto his shoulder. "Let's go back downstairs. Try to stay out of sight, will you?"

"Was already planning to." He followed the other down the stairs, turning himself invisible. "I'm not jumping to get shot by your dad."

To his credit, human Danny _did_ try to avoid Jack; they mostly fought in separate rooms. And Danny didn't have to interfere all that much, either. He blasted the occasional ghost, when it tried to attack the others from the back, but not much else.

Well, not until another enormous bear showed up. Danny had just blasted away a ghost from over the other's shoulder, and thus hadn't been watching their back.

The bear's roar shook the walls, and they both whirled around towards it.

"Oh shit," human Danny whispered, hauling his gun upwards. They both knew it was too close for the shot to fend it off, though.

Danny raised his hands, dropped his invisibility, and poured all his energy into his hands. The shield that formed might've been his fastest ever, and it was just barely fast enough.

The ghost thudded against it, claws scraping over the shield's surface.

"Holy shit," he heard whispered behind him, as he strained to hold the shield.

"Get ready to fire," he snarled back, not turning to look. "I'll push it away, but I can't fire that soon."

"Ready," he heard, and then he _shoved_. His core spluttered, but the bear was knocked back into the wall. An enormous blast of ectoplasm followed it, hitting the bear right in the chest. It burst apart, coating the entire living room wall with ectoplasm.

Danny panted with the effort. His core churned, but it quickly recovered, ready for another bout of fighting.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine," he assured the other Danny, flapping a dismissive hand. "I'm just… not used to making shields that quickly. And, to be honest, it's been a while since my last endurance fight."

The other watched him for a moment longer, a worried crease to his brow, before he nodded. "Alright, well. Let's get back to it, then."

They fought off several more ghosts, darting around Jack where necessary, before the quiet fell in FentonWorks. Danny watched as his human counterpart leaned against the kitchen table, panting, the gun loosely held in his hand. He looked up when his dad entered the kitchen, the man's eyes settling on him.

Oh, uh, whoops. He must've dropped his invisibility somewhere along the line.

"Phantom," the man boomed, and Danny flinched back, inadvertently hiding behind human Danny.

But Jack didn't raise the Jack-o'-Nine-Tails he held in his hand. Just looked right at him.

"Uh, hey?" he finally said, realizing that his dad wasn't going to say anything else.

Jack's eyes slowly swept over him, then over the human he was hiding behind, and then back to Danny.

"Alone today?" Jack asked, and it took Danny a moment to realize what he was trying to ask.

"Uh, yeah." He shrugged loosely, vaguely shocked at how civil this conversation was. "Specter is my sister, but we're not, like, glued together."

Jack nodded, seemingly pleased, and stepped forward. And then… put his weapon down on the kitchen table, too. Right in front of Danny.

"Um," he said, before he could stop himself. "Are you sure you should be putting that down?"

"Planning on attacking me, Phantom?" Jack raised a questioning eyebrow.

"No, but there are probably more ghosts around." He floated away from human Danny, cocking his head at Jack. "Why aren't you… y'know?"

"You two are not nearly as subtle as you seem to think." Jack's eyes wandered back to his actual son. "I don't trust you, Phantom, but I've seen you in here. Seen you shield my son, and watch his back. I know my Danny, and he's not _that_ good a ghost hunter."

Said son huffed and rolled his eyes. "It's not like I have any experience with it."

"Oh," Danny said, shuffling mid-air. "Well, um. Thanks, I guess?"

Quiet fell for a moment, before human Danny elbowed him in the side. "Not to disturb the peace or anything, but are we actually clear?"

"Uh, hold on." Danny stirred his core up again, trying to cast out his ghost sense. He hadn't had much practice with it, using his ghost sense as a radar of sorts, but it was a useful skill to have. He tasted the air, the pulse of cores. "No, not yet. There are a few still around."

"Well, back to the grind we go." The teen pushed himself away from the table, raising his gun back up. "Lead the way, Phantom."

"Hold on," Jack interrupted them. He grabbed his weapon as well, eyes settling on Danny. "You can track them?"

"Built-in ghost sense," Danny explained with a shrug. "Usually it just warns me when other ghosts are close, but I can track ones that are close if I really try."

Jack nodded, then gestured, a grin wide on his face. "Let's go get them, boys."

* * *

Maddie knocked on the door, and Jazz plastered on her most pleasant smile. Vlad opened the door with a startled expression, but quickly smoothed it over with a—frankly slimy—grin.

"Maddie, Jasmine! You have returned to me," he greeted them, unnecessarily cheery.

He stepped aside to let them in, but Maddie pressed forward a little further than she normally would have. "Jazz, honey, why don't you go somewhere else while the adults talk?"

"Sure thing," she replied, creeping past the two of them, practically unnoticed. Vlad's eyes had settled on Maddie, and only Maddie. "If you need me, I'll be over there." She gestured vaguely, but neither noticed.

She watched as her mom smiled coyly at Vlad, and grimaced as she ducked into a different hallway. She wanted to use the opportunity to search for a phone—her ghost powers would make it quicker than her mom could—but she didn't know if the Specter Deflector would activate if she did.

Well, actually. Might as well go look on foot, right? She would just stick somewhat nearby, so she could check in if Maddie needed her to take over distraction duty.

Her search of Vlad's mansion was quick, but bore little fruit. Vlad didn't have a single phone in the whole building! There were several vehicles, though, which they might be able to borrow if Vlad wasn't around.

She returned to the hallway she'd been hiding in earlier just in time to see her mom ducking around the corner.

"No phones anywhere, but there's a bunch of different vehicles that we could maybe borrow," Jazz whispered as she slid up to Maddie. "ATVs, cars, a helicopter… but no phone."

Her mom made a face. "I want to take a look around, just to be sure. Why don't we meet up at the helicopter in fifteen minutes, and we'll use that if I can't find anything better."

"Alright. I'll keep Vlad distracted for you."

Maddie nodded, then headed off through the doorway. Jazz hung back for a moment, sorting through possible plans of approach.

There was no way that Vlad would just let them leave, so she had to take him out. There was no way she could take him in a fight, though. Not a _fair_ fight, at least. But according to Phantom, he had beaten Vlad by using Vlad's own invention, a taser which shorted out their powers. She just had to take it from him, and, well. Intangibility made for easy pick-pocketing, as much as she hated to admit it.

She turned around the corner, smoothing out her hair and returning her nice-girl smile to her face. "Hey, um, Uncle Vlad?"

Vlad was sitting on a couch in front of the fireplace, but he looked up from the book in his hands when she spoke up. "Oh, please, Jasmine, don't try to butter me up. Mentor or not, you're hardly a threat to me."

"How can you say that?" She blinked large wet eyes at him, her tone as soft and innocent as she could make it. "You think my mom made the decision to come back on her own? We're a family. We both talked about it, and I want to stay here with you too."

Vlad visibly brightened up, his eyes turning suspiciously wet. "Really? You don't mean…"

"Yes, I do." She pushed down her roiling gut, the feeling she had to puke just for talking sweet to this man. She apologized internally to her dad for what she would have to say next. "Come on, give me a big hug, new Dad!"

The man grinned widely, immediately dropping the book and approaching for the hug. She wrapped her arms around him first, turning one hand intangible to dig through his pockets. Around her waist, the Specter Deflector buzzed louder and louder, the feeling of static dancing over her skin.

Vlad screamed, immediately letting her go. Electricity still darted over his skin, his suit scorched in places.

Jazz tucked the hand with the taser behind her back.

"You little rat!" Vlad snarled at her, his eyes flashing red. "You tricked me! But you've underestimated me! I don't need to touch you to fight—"

He frowned, suddenly, hand patting at his empty pocket.

"Wow, were you really going to fight me as Plasmius?" she asked innocently, folding her hands behind her back. "Even though my mom might come back any moment?"

Vlad growled, stepping closer to her again. He raised a hand, glowing pink ectoplasm swirling around it. "You underestimate my power, little girl!"

She cocked her head, smirking at him. "Do I?"

Suddenly she darted forward, pressing the taser against Vlad's side. She held down the button, watched as the ectoplasm around his fist fizzled out again.

"How about now?" she asked, pulling the taser out of his reach. "That shorted out your powers for three hours, didn't it?"

Vlad blinked at her, frizzled and clearly surprised. "How do you know about— No, never mind. Because, Jasmine, you've forgotten about one more detail!"

He whistled, the sound loud and echoing. Jazz' core stirred with her ghost sense as several animal ghosts phased through the floor, grouping around Vlad.

"Get her!" the man commanded, pointing at her.

"Me?" She pointed a finger at herself. "But why would they be mad at me? I'm not the one who made their pelts into wall art."

She gestured at the hunting trophies on the wall, the bearskin on the floor.

The animal ghosts turned back to Vlad, growling and snarling at him.

"Go on, get him," she encouraged them, and the mob of ghosts lunged at Vlad. The man swore, immediately racing for the door.

Maybe not the most polite way of handling this conflict, but, well. Sometimes you needed to use a little more force.

She glanced at the clock, made a face. Time to head up to the helicopter and get out.

Jazz met her mom on the helipad. "Any luck?"

"No. Looks like we'll be borrowing Vlad's helicopter. Where is he?"

"I asked him already. He's alright with it." She grinned innocently as they climbed into the chopper seats. "And, Mom? It was a little unconventional, and definitely not what we planned, but… I'm glad that we got to spend some time together."

Maddie smiled back, soft and warm and genuine. "Oh, Jazz, that's so sweet."

The helicopter roared to life around them. Amity Park was waiting.

* * *

The real reason why I wrote the confrontation last chapter from human Danny's perspective: because Phantom absolutely refuses to stop referring to himself as Danny, making every scene with both Danny's confusing as all heck. Also my boy Phantom is doing a spectacular job avoiding Vlad and it was absolutely not intentional, I swear.

If you enjoy my writing, keep your eyes on my account for this month! The Phic Phight is running during the entire month of April, and I'm trying to blast my record from last year (~35k) out of the water, so there will probably be quite some one-shots going up! If you're here just for Absurdism, though, no worries! I've written everything up to (and including) chapter 14, so the weekly updates are ready for the rest of the month, too. (and I planned out the last two chapters, too, just for good measure)

Next week, chapter 11: The Million Dollar Ghost


	11. The Million Dollar Ghost

"Have you seen?" Jazz asked the moment she joined Phantom in their clearing.

"What, the bounty?" He shrugged, far too casual for her comfort. "Yeah, it's fine."

"Fine? It's a million dollar bounty! The world's best known ghost hunters are all coming to Amity, just to hunt you down! How can you not worry about that?!"

Phantom blew out a breath. "Chill, Jazz. They're the world's best _known_ ghost hunters, not the _best_. They're a bunch of phonies who couldn't catch a ghost if it waved at them."

"But—" Nerves curdled in her stomach. Why was he so dismissive?

"It's nothing," Phantom said, more comfortingly, like he'd finally caught onto her concern. "Really, Jazz, it's fine. I got away from all of them when I was your age, and I could do it again now. Not that I would _have_ to, because the bounty isn't real."

She blinked at him. "It's not?"

"Nah. Or, well, in _my_ universe it wasn't, so I bet it's not in this one either. Vlad set it up to lure me—you—us away from the Fenton Portal so he can steal it. And I guess I make a better target than you." He shrugged.

"He's probably still trying to get you out of the way," Jazz pointed out, crossing her arms. "Since you 'stole' his mentorship position, and all that."

Phantom made a face. "Ugh, yeah, probably. Really, though, I'll be fine."

Jazz shuffled her feet uncertainly, watching her glow flicker slightly. A reflection of her emotions, she now knew. "Are you sure? I mean, it just takes one slip-up…"

"I'm sure, Jazz." He smiled at her. "I mean, really, the only reason why I got caught in my own universe was because I felt bad for Dad and let him catch me. And you obviously haven't hurt his feelings like I did, so…"

She snorted, startled. "Oh my god, you _let_ him catch you? How did you even survive your first year as a half-ghost?"

"Well, some might argue I didn't." Phantom winked, his grin growing more wide. "But for real, he found out that the bounty was a trap, and the ghost who put it out was going to target our family. Or, well. _Jack's_ family. I offered to free him from the trap if he freed me from the Fenton Weasel, and that's pretty much how it went." He shrugged at the end of it, like it wasn't a big deal that their _ghost-hating_ father caught and then released a ghost of their caliber.

"How can you act like that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Seriously, _Dad_ caught you and then let you go?"

"His family comes before ghosts," Phantom pointed out, humor leaching out of his voice. "_Always_."

The mood was clearly broken. Silence fell, strained and uncomfortable.

Jazz cleared her throat uncertainly. "Right, so, uh. What are we working on today?"

* * *

Now, Danny usually doesn't go out looking for fights—not counting his patrols—but he figured he would make an exception this one time. Vlad was still in Amity somewhere, lurking.

Besides, he fought the elder half-ghost in his own universe. If he didn't come to Vlad, the man would surely seek him out. Better to catch him off-guard and engage on his own terms, right?

Finding the older ghost was easy enough. Even though half-ghosts were harder to detect—_thanks, _ghost sense—Vlad wasn't alone; he'd brought the three vulture ghosts along. And those? Those were easy to track down, as long as you were looking for them.

Danny glanced downwards, quickly making sure that they were high enough up that no one could overhear. Assured of this, he flew up to Vlad's level, even though the other half-ghost hadn't noticed him yet.

"Hey, Plasmius!" he yelled, drawing even with the four ghosts. "What the fuck are you doing in Amity?"

Vlad whirled around, his red eyes briefly blown wide open—startled. Danny had actually startled him.

The expression was quickly wiped away in favor for Vlad's usual smooth blankness, of course, but Danny was counting it as a win anyway.

"Phantom, I presume?" Vlad hummed, as the vultures spread out behind him. An attempt at intimidation, or were they getting out of the way for a possible fight?

"Oh please, like you don't know exactly who I am." He rolled his eyes at Vlad. "Seriously, man, you're not welcome here. Haven't you caused enough trouble yet?"

"Me?" Vlad pressed a dainty hand against his chest, eyes wide and blinking innocently. "Why, Phantom, what are you accusing me off? I haven't done a thing."

Danny shot Vlad the flattest, most disbelieving look he could manage. "Uh huh. Sure, old man. Nothing about this bounty is sketchy at all, and it _certainly_ has nothing to do with you. Now, for the last time. Leave this town, or I'll _make_ you."

The vultures behind Vlad squawked, a dead giveaway that it _was_ Vlad's fault. Not that Danny had any doubt about that, but it was always nice to have proof.

He grinned at Vlad, knowing the other half-ghost hated that cocky smirk. "So, now that we've established that… Leave, Vlad. I'm not above fighting you."

"What, all on your own?" Vlad quirked an eyebrow at Danny. "I didn't know you fought without your dear… sister." The last word, he said carefully, measured.

Danny snorted. "I've fought more without her than _with_ her. But don't you worry, I've got more than enough power to deal with _you_."

"Big words for a ghost who hasn't even _met_ me before," Vlad scoffed, flaring out his cape in a (weak) attempt at intimidation. His fists flared up with pink ectoplasm. "But if it is a fight you want so dearly, I suppose I give you that much."

"I would prefer if you just left," Danny bit back, firing off two quick but low-powered ecto-blasts towards Vlad, "but I'll settle for kicking your ass."

Vlad summoned a minimal shield, small and glass-like, reflecting the blasts. "Oh _please_. Bold words for a little ghost that can barely form an ecto-blast. It's a miracle that Specter would even consider you a mentor, when you have so little to offer her."

"You're just jealous that she didn't want you," Danny countered, smirking at Vlad. His core thrummed eagerly, flooding him with energy. It had been far too long since he'd been in a serious ghost fight. "But don't be jealous, Vladdie, because she wouldn't have accepted your offer even if I _hadn't_ been around!"

He underlined the statement with another ecto-blast, bigger and more powerful than the previous two. Vlad swore, ducking underneath it—barely.

Vlad shot back a blast of pink ectoplasm in retaliation. "_Don't call me that_!"

The blow petered out against a hastily formed shield, and Danny blinked innocently. "Call you what, Vladdie? Don't you like it when people use your name?"

Vlad snarled, the ectoplasm whirling together into pink flames. "Who do you think you are, you little pest!"

Danny opened his mouth to snark back, but Vlad lunged at him and he discarded the attempt in favor of protecting himself. He dodged the first swipe, used a shield to block the second, and then blasted Vlad in the side to push him away.

"Why do you even _care_ about Specter?" Vlad asked, once he'd recovered from the unexpected counterattack. "You say she's your sister, but you can't be. It must be something else."

Oh, Vlad. For an expert of all things half-ghost, he could be incredibly oblivious. "Why can't I be, hm? Is there some sort of limit on half-ghosts, or do you just feel threatened by the possibility that someone could've managed _without_ your help and expertise?"

He could _see_ Vlad's brain grind to a halt at that. The man froze in mid-air, the ectoplasmic flames around his fist dying off.

"You… You _can't_ be," Vlad mumbled. His voice was quiet, like he was just thinking out loud. Danny _would_ feel bad about listening in but, hey, Vlad has done far worse. "It makes sense, but— surely I would've noticed? He acts like he knows me, and he's close to Jasmine, but— no. Surely not?"

"You're rambling, man," Danny interrupted, leaning his chin on his hand and rattling the fingers against his cheek. "You wanna leave to have your crisis somewhere else, or are we still gonna fight?"

Vlad whirled around to him, his aura flaring brighter. "Would you shut your mouth, _Daniel_?!"

Immediately, Vlad snapped his mouth shut, but it was too late. His cheeks colored—an inhuman teal—and Danny realized that Vlad hadn't even _meant_ to say his actual name.

"You know, I usually ask people to call me Phantom or Danny, but I'll give you a pass for this once." Danny lounged backwards, his spine clicking as he stretched. "Seriously, though. Are you gonna leave, or what?"

A pink ecto-blast whizzed by him, and Danny raised an eyebrow. "Well, alright then. If that's how you want to play this."

The next blast, he intercepted with a shield. It lasted through several more shots from Vlad, before Danny suddenly dropped it, following it with an ecto-blast of his own. It caught Vlad right in the arm, breaking up the steady rhythm of firing.

In the newly made gap, Danny darted closer, angling low and bypassing Vlad entirely. Electricity crackled over his arms, and he discharged it right against Vlad's unprotected back.

The older half-ghost was blown forward, tumbling heels over head, but he managed to straighten himself quickly. He snarled, baring his fangs, flames licking over his arms.

Danny rolled his eyes, looking as unimpressed as he felt. "You're not that scary, man."

He waited until Vlad opened his mouth to snark back. When he did, Danny launched a pointed icicle, swiftly followed by several more.

Vlad swore, throwing his ectoplasmic fire in front of him. Once the flames had faded, Danny could see that Vlad had gotten soaked, but he seemed unharmed.

"You've been underplaying your skill," the other half-ghost commented, his voice strained. "You didn't need Specter's help for any of those fights of yours, did you? But why else would he train her…"

"Yo, fruitloop, I'm right here!" Danny shot another ecto-blast, but it was halfhearted, and Vlad easily shielded it. "And I think you know the answer to that last question already, don't you?"

"It _can't_ be!" Vlad snapped back, aura flickering wildly. "You're obviously experienced, and I can't have missed— missed another for _so long_!"

Danny scoffed dismissively. "Clearly you _can_. Seriously, man, it's been years. You've missed your shot by miles, and Jazz will never take you, because she knows she'll always have her _actual_ family. Give up, Vlad. Or learn to do better, and maybe I'll let you help."

Vlad snarled, vicious and animalistic. "I don't need your _pity_, boy, nor your advice! I'll get what I want sooner or later, and you'd be wise to join me before you pick the losing side."

"I'm already _with_ the winning side, Vlad." Danny crossed his arms, staring Vlad down impassively. "You're free to join us if you clean up your game, you know? But nobody wants _this_, Vlad. The sooner you realize that, the sooner you can find happiness yourself."

"You don't know what you're talking about," Vlad sneered, eyes narrowed into bright red slits. "You're, what, sixteen? You have barely an ounce of the life experience I have. But, nevertheless, I am done here."

Vlad caught the edge of his cape, bowing deeply. "Goodbye, Daniel. You know where to find me if you change your mind."

And, with that, he swept the cape over himself, disappearing in a swirl of pink smoke.

Danny cast out his ghost sense, confirming that Vlad had actually left. Him, and those vultures too. Uh, whoops. He'd gotten so caught up with Vlad that he forgot about the minions.

Well, they couldn't have gotten _that_ far. He would just have to keep an eye out during patrol.

Actually… maybe he could take Jazz out with him. That would assure her that the bounty wasn't dangerous to him, right?

Yeah, that sounded like a good plan.

* * *

"Wanna join me on patrol?" Phantom asked, completely out of the blue. Jazz jerked her head towards him, frowned.

"Why?"

He shrugged vaguely. "You're worried about the ghost hunters, yeah? If you come along on patrol, you can see first-hand that they're no danger to me. Besides, they won't go after you—they're only interested in the bounty."

"Well…" She made a face. He was right, she supposed, but still… "Are they really only going to chase _you_, though? That seems…"

"Sketchy? Kinda shitty? Just overall a really awful thing to do? Yeah." He shrugged, lounging in mid-air. "There's a reason why they held off on coming here until now. They don't care about the actual ghost hunting, they care about the money."

"That… sucks."

Phantom shrugged again. "It also means that they have very little experience dealing with actual ghosts, so. Not very threatening. Want to join me for patrol?"

"I guess. Are you that worried about ghosts?" She frowned at him. "I mean, won't the ghost hunter's presence scare off other ghosts?"

"It's possible," Phantom admitted, easily. "But Vlad tends to drag his vulture minions along with him, and he's not above having those guys cause trouble just to lure us out. So I'm gonna go on patrol and find them, make sure they can't cause a ruckus later."

"Isn't that exactly what he wants, though?" She sighed. "But, yeah, sure, I'll join you on patrol. Give me a second to finish this bit of homework, and I'll meet you outside."

Phantom grinned, wide and bright, and saluted her. Then he was gone.

She rolled her eyes—he was _definitely_ running head-first into a trap—but did as she'd said. Her homework was almost done anyway, and she had plenty of time for the rest later. For now, she had to make sure that Phantom wasn't doing anything stupid.

And, yeah, in some way he was her older brother. Maybe she was a bit too worried about Phantom. He was, after all, both older _and_ more experienced as a half-ghost. He was way stronger than she was, could beat her easily if they fought.

But he didn't always make good decisions. And that? That wasn't a Phantom thing. That was a _Danny_ thing.

Besides, they both knew that Phantom wasn't happy to be here. No matter how hard he tried to be cheery, to help to the best of his abilities… He missed his home. He wanted dearly to go home. It was clear, _so_ clear.

So, Jazz was glad that he was staying around anyway. That he was helping her with all this, instead of looking for a way home. Sure, he said that there was no point in looking for portals back, but there must be other ways. And even if he didn't know about them just yet, he could've done tons of research in the time he'd been here.

But, no. Instead he'd stuck around in Amity, helping _her_. Training her, mentoring her, _teaching_ her.

With her homework swiftly finished, Jazz pushed herself away from her desk, out of her chair. She bit her lip, hesitating for just a second… Leaving with Phantom to patrol would be sneaking out, wouldn't it? But as long as she returned before it was too late her parents wouldn't miss her, and Danny definitely wouldn't.

She easily shifted to her ghost form, turning invisible and intangible so she could sneak out unnoticed. From her room it was just a short flight to the rooftop where Phantom was waiting, and she dropped her invisibility almost immediately.

"All done?" Phantom asked, pushing himself to his feet. With a quick flash of light he returned to his usual ghost form—he must've shifted back to avoid ghost detectors.

"Yeah. Lead the way, Phantom."

He nodded, pushing himself off of the rooftop. Jazz followed him, taking a moment to remember the first they'd met. When she could barely fly up to meet Phantom's height, never mind follow his steady flight.

She still couldn't match his grace in the air, but, well. Danny had always been aiming for space. It made sense that he was better at flight, at disregarding gravity, than she was.

They found the vulture ghosts faster than the ghost hunters found Phantom, which either said worrying things about the hunters, or great things about them.

Unfortunately they weren't _that_ much faster, and the cacophony from the human hunters distracted her and Phantom long enough for Vlad's minions to get away from them.

"Just follow my lead," Phantom told her, a grin on his face, before he turned a full 180 degrees and flew back over the ghost hunters chasing them—him—them. She scowled, but did as he asked.

The hunters, in four clearly-uncoordinated groups, got tangled up in each other when they tried to give chase. Only a single shot was fired in their direction, and it went so wide that Jazz was almost embarrassed for the hunter who had fired it.

With their tail thus thrown off, the two of them managed to track down one of the vultures.

"Must've split up," Phantom mumbled under his breath. They were hidden from the ghost around the corner of a building, ready to chase it down. "I'll come from the front and freeze it, you catch it in the Thermos."

"Gotcha." She nodded, pressing her feet against the wall so she could push herself off.

Phantom nodded back, and off they went. He shot straight at the vulture, legs immediately melting into his spectral tail, hands glowing blue. He didn't even fire the ice beam from the distance, like she knew he could, but held off until he was practically touching the vulture before releasing the shot.

It _was_ effective, though, she had to give him that. The ghost was frozen solid, and the Thermos sucked it up easily.

"One down, two to go," Phantom said, rejoining her. "Let's keep up the pace, before those suckers catch up again."

They returned to their sweeping loops over Amity, both turning invisible when they passed the ghost hunters again. Jazz thought they had ghost detectors, but they either didn't have them, or didn't use them, because the hunters didn't even notice them. Suckers.

The two of them used a similar tactic on the second vulture, once they had found him. This time, though, Phantom scared the vulture by flying at him from the front, while she caught it off-guard—and in the Thermos.

"Just one more." She grinned at Phantom. "Are you sure you didn't ask me along just to make this go faster?"

He laughed, holding up his hands. "Guilty as charged. But, really, do you still think those guys are a threat to me after this?"

"I guess you're right," she allowed. "Come on, let's go catch that last vulture."

Just then, both their ghost senses went off.

"Well, I guess that he's making it easy," Phantom said, twisting his head to look upwards. "Oh, yeah, there he is."

Jazz followed his pointing finger, and indeed, there the third vulture ghost was. Way up high, and actively flying around.

"What are we waiting for?" She smirked at Phantom, Thermos already in her hand. "Let's get him."

He grinned at the challenge, and before she could move, he launched himself upwards. Jazz laughed, quickly flying after him, even if she couldn't match his speed.

The vulture squawked when Phantom hit him, apparently forgoing ghostly tactics to just body-slam the vulture at top speed. Jazz worried for a moment about how she was supposed to catch him in a Thermos, but Phantom was already turning around, arms still wrapped around the ghost.

They leveled out with her, stopping abruptly, and Phantom released the ghost. Apparently the maneuver had disoriented the vulture, because he didn't even try to fly away.

Jazz uncapped the Thermos, held it up, and captured the ghost in its vortex. Satisfied with a job well done, she capped the Thermos again, clicking it back on her belt.

"And that was the last of them," she said, a satisfied hum to her core.

Phantom dusted his hands, grinning at her. "Yeah. Thanks for the help, it really made things easier for me."

"Not that you _needed_ the help," she countered with a shake of her head. "Seriously, those ghost hunters are just _sad_. I know that people don't like it when we protect the town, but we have to be better than _that_, right?"

"The Fentons aren't that bad either," Phantom pointed out with a shrug. "And there's always Val."

"There sure is," a familiar voice answered, and Jazz' eyes snapped upwards. Red, and a lot of it. The whine of some sort of technology, and a blinding flash of light.

Jazz clenched her eyes shut, slowly opening them when the light faded again.

Valerie stood on her hoverboard, a knock-off Thermos in her black-gloved hands. It was nigh impossible to read her expression thanks to her mask, but Jazz thought she was frowning down at the device.

Wait.

Where was Phantom?

She looked around, but there was no trace of him. It was like he… disappeared.

Oh.

"Did you just catch my brother?" she bit at Valerie, twisting back to look at her. "I thought you were alright with us!"

Valerie scoffed, shoving her Thermos in a holster on her thigh. "There were more important targets. It's a thing called _prioritizing_."

"What, and we _suddenly_ pushed to the top of your priorities?" Jazz asked, but cold realization seeped in. "Oh, no, of course. It was the bounty, wasn't it?"

"Oh _please_." Valerie huffed, her tone of voice making it sound like she rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't expect a _ghost_ to understand what that money means to me, to my family."

"There is no money!" Jazz snapped back, feeling her glow flare out, ectoplasm sparking around her fists. "It's a trap, Huntress! Just let Phantom go. Don't do this."

"Or what?" Valerie bit back. "You'll attack me? Not good for your status as _protector_, is it?"

"I'm serious! It's a trap, alright, and you won't get the money." Jazz darted around to block Valerie's path. "The bounty isn't real, some ghost put it out because he wants Phantom out of the way, I swear!"

Valerie scoffed, pushing Jazz out of her way. "Yeah, I don't believe you. Leave, Specter, or I'll shoot you."

"Fine." Jazz moved aside, crossing her arms. "Go, then, prove me right. But don't blame _me_ if this comes back to bite you in the ass, Huntress."

"Oh, don't be dramatic," Valerie murmured, shaking her head. Her hoverboard roared to life, and away Valerie went—with Phantom captured in a Thermos.

"Ugh," Jazz sighed, immediately dropping her stern posture. "I can't believe— Of _course_ she would be out here too, hunting for the bounty."

She knew she _should_ go out after them, should free Phantom, but… there wasn't all that much she could do. Valerie would probably release Phantom sooner or later herself, once she discovered that it really _was_ a trap. And Phantom wouldn't want her to follow, either. Would want her to keep her house, and the ghost Portal, safe.

So she reluctantly turned around, flying back home.

No ghost hunters bothered her.

* * *

Danny had some experience with getting captured with ghost hunting devices, but the Thermos always remained one of his least favorites. The Weasel, at least, allowed him to overhear the outside, to still feel like he _existed_. The Thermos was… was nothing. From the moment he went in to the moment he was released again, it was like no time had passed.

It wasn't… uncomfortable, or something. It just… didn't exist. As long as he was in the Thermos, he was completely and utterly unaware. It was like no time passed at all; he was just suddenly elsewhere, and also it was three hours later.

He tumbled back into awareness—literally—staring right into Valerie's mask. It was creased heavily around her brows, a clear sign of her frowning at him. And glaring, probably, knowing Valerie.

They were inside a cage of sorts, the bars made out of pink ectoplasm. Ah, yes. Danny remembered this part.

"I hate your sister," Valerie told him, leaning right into his face. "I want you to know that."

"Duly noted." He rolled his shoulder, grimacing at the sound of it crackling. "She warned you about the trap, huh?"

Valerie hissed, low, and Danny raised his hands. "Chill, it's fine. Specter can be a bit of a know-it-all sometimes. She's clever, but she's not great at conveying that knowledge."

"I don't care," Valerie growled, then took an audible breath. When she continued, her voice was calmer. "Look, I just… I know you and Specter aren't actively causing trouble in the city, so you're not, like, high on my shitlist or anything. But that bounty went out and… it seemed too good to be true, but I just… wanted it to be real." She shrugged. "My family and I… we really could've used that money."

"It's fine, Red. I get it." Danny caught himself halfway through lifting a comforting hand, freezing in place. Valerie probably wouldn't be receptive to that sort of thing, not from him. "I know everyone thinks that ghosts don't remember anything from their lives, but… I know _I_ do. And I… I remember what being poor can do to someone. How much it sucks, and what kind of weird shit people might pull just for _some_ money."

Valerie cocked her head slightly, her mask crunching together slightly. "Like what?"

"What, is this a cross-examination now?" He rolled his eyes, huffed for dramatic effect. "I _might_ have sold stuff from my parents' shed to make some money, hoping that they had hoarded enough stuff that they wouldn't notice."

"That's nowhere _near_ what I just did," Valerie pointed out, crossing her arms.

"Well, no, but it's not like I had ghost hunting equipment _or_ potentially dangerous ghosts to chase down." Danny shrugged, loosely. "Seriously, it's fine. Not the first time I've been caught, and _you_, at least, had a pretty valid reason to catch me. If I _had_ to get captured for this bounty stuff, I'm glad that it was you and not one of those other hunters."

She made a face. Or, well. He thought she did. "Are those… seriously the best money could buy? Because, uh, yikes. I had no idea ghost hunting, as a profession, looked like _that_."

"Yeah, you made a poor career choice." He grinned at her. "But, hey, you've got plenty of time left to change stuff around. Or to better the name of ghost hunting. Either or, really. Up to you."

"You sound like a motivational speaker." Valerie scoffed. "Seriously, I thought you were bad during battles, but this? This is worse."

"Aw, Red, I didn't know you cared." He pressed a hand against his chest, blinking lovingly. It was just… too easy to fall back into his easy banter with Val. He knew he shouldn't, but, well. Banter was better than fighting, yeah? "But, for real, I get it. Specter and I, we try our best, but we're not perfect. We can't catch every ghost the moment they look like they're up to anything malicious, unfortunately. I'm sorry it happened to you."

"I don't think you are," she said, shaking her head, but Danny recognized that tone. It was her _"I'm starting to acknowledge that you're actually kind of human-like but I refuse to accept it"_ tone.

And, yes, Valerie had a tone like that. It was rare, but the few times he'd heard it had been memorable enough to stick.

"Well, that's up to you." He reached out a hand towards the bars, but they didn't shock him. Ah, yeah, just like last time. Not phase-proof. "You want me to apologize by phasing you out of this?"

"You can do that?" She jerked her head back towards him. "I thought— It looked like ectoplasmic energy, I figured it would zap you if you tried."

He wrapped a hand around the bar, tugging it meaningfully. "Doesn't look like it. Besides, isn't that why you let me out of the Thermos again? Or did you just want to vent about my sister so badly that even _I_ would do?"

"Oh, shut up," she grunted. "Just let me out and we'll ignore this ever happened."

"Sure thing, Red. The closer you are to the bars, the shorter I'll have to make you intangible, so…" He gestured vaguely. "I'm assuming you want that time to be as short as possible, anyway."

She inched closer, keeping her head turning towards him the whole time. "Why do you keep calling me that, anyway?"

"What, Red?" He shrugged. "Specter and I needed a name to refer to you, and, well. You're a ghost hunter, dressed almost entirely in red. So, the Red Huntress."

Valerie stopped next to the bars—and him—and stared him down. "I would comment on your naming skills, but I feel like that's a lost cause, since you're two ghosts called _Specter_ and _Phantom_."

"Believe me, I've heard it before." He offered her a hand. "The worst part is honestly that we didn't even coordinate that. We didn't know the other had become a ghost until we ran into each other."

"So shitty names are a family trait?" Valerie asked as she took his hand. Hers was warm even through her gloves.

Danny paused, thinking of literally every single one of his parents' inventions. He shrugged. "Kinda, yeah."

"I… I really don't know how to feel about that, Phantom."

He laughed, and used the moment of distraction to turn the both of them intangible. He stepped backwards through the bars, tugging Valerie along with him. Released both the intangibility and her as soon as they were through.

"That's fair," he ended up saying with another shrug. "My family was… a lot."

"At least Specter still is," Valerie said. Then she froze, seemingly startled by the fact that she'd just said something comforting to a _ghost_.

"That, she is," he agreed with a nod. "Speaking of, I should go check in with her. Tell her you didn't re-kill me or anything. Will you be alright from here on out?"

Valerie scoffed. "I don't need your help. Yes, Phantom, I'll be fine. Go worry over your sister."

"I will. Stay safe, Red."

He pushed off before she could answer, darting upwards too fast to hear anything she might shout afterwards. After that, however, he lowered his speed for the flight back home. Or, well. Back to FentonWorks. His dad could deal with Vlad fine on his own, and Jazz was around in this universe, too.

Still, even a casual speed brought him to FentonWorks quickly, and he landed on the same rooftop that he'd started the patrol on. He only had to wait for a few moments before Jazz appeared next to him.

Danny opened his mouth to greet her, but suddenly a body was pressed against him, chilly arms wrapping around him.

"Hey, Jazz," he said, voice soft, as he wrapped his own arms around her. "It's fine, I'm alright."

"I was worried," she admitted quietly. "I… I knew you'd be okay, but I couldn't stop worrying."

"I'm sorry." He ran his hand through her hair, as strange and gravity-defying as his own. "I didn't realize you'd be so worried, or I would've stopped talking to Val sooner. I promise, I'm fine."

She huffed a breath in his neck, then pulled away a little. "You were talking to Valerie?"

Hook, line, and sinker. "Yeah. Warming her up a little to, well. Ghosts in general, I think, but mostly to us. How'd things go here?"

"They went fine. I didn't have to do anything." She pulled away entirely, but still didn't look quite settled. "Dad beat up Plasmius with some of the inventions, and Mom and Danny just kind of shouted encouragements at him. I didn't even have to do anything."

"Good, good. That's pretty much what happened in my universe too." He nodded, rolling his spine and grinning at Jazz' disgusted face. "Well, not the encouraging part, but Dad defeated Vlad on his own. In my universe, the vultures had grabbed Mom and, uh, Jazz, and trapped them in the weapon vault."

Jazz blinked at him for a moment. "We have a weapons vault?"

"Yeah? It's got a circular door and a keypad?" He shrugged. "It's also not phaseproof, so it's kind of worthless against ghosts. Well, it isn't phaseproof _now_. They improved it when too many weapons disappeared but, well. Not much point to it if they kept telling me the password."

"That's ridiculous. How did I not know that it existed? You should show me where it is, later, just in case."

"Sure thing." He yawned. "Sorry, it's been a long day. Shouldn't you head to bed soon?"

She heaved a deep sigh. "Yeah, I… Wait a minute. You talked with Valerie! Danny!" She jumped forward, suddenly, crowding him. "You need to tell me what you two talked about!"

"Woah, chill, Jazz." He gently pushed her away again. "Now?"

"Yeah, now!" she snapped at him. "You tried to change the topic so I would forget! I need to know what you two talked about so I know how to approach her tomorrow!"

"Alright, alright, I get it." He shook his head. "Alright, so, it started like this…"

* * *

Serious question: why was Valerie not involved in The Million Dollar Ghost in canon? She hates Phantom, and she could really use the money. Plus she's a thousand times more competent than those other ghost hunters.

Anyway, as for the actual chapter... Vlad finally meets Phantom! And is promptly confronted by the possibility that his annoying mentor competition is actually another half-ghost. Yikes.  
And Valerie has Thoughts about ghosts. If only she knew a mostly-civil ghost she could talk to, and with whom she shared a friend...

Next week, chapter 12: Control Freaks


	12. Control Freaks

Cold air curled in Jazz' lungs, and she paused in her flight. She'd been expecting it, yes, but not this soon. Normally her ghost sense wouldn't pick up on Sidney until she actually entered the school. To have it go off this soon… Was he outside?

Concern niggled in her brain, and she turned herself invisible. She would just check the school grounds and make sure he wasn't in any trouble. During times like these, she wished she was as good as a tracker as Phantom, but apparently that was a hard skill—and a late one.

Luckily it wasn't that hard to find Sidney. He was hidden from the crowd of students, but not actually _hidden_ hidden.

More surprising was the person he was apparently talking with: Valerie.

Jazz bit her lip, hesitating for just a moment. Should she listen in? No, definitely not. That was just… _creepy_. She could just join it like a regular person. A better question would be, join as Specter or join as Jazz? But that, too, was an easy question to answer.

She ducked into a bush—not too close, but not overly far away—and shifted back to her human form. It was _Jazz_, after all, that had connections to both Valerie and Sidney, and who had encouraged Valerie to be nicer to ghosts.

A few determined steps brought her back towards her talking… friends? Was friends the right word to use? Sure, whatever, she was allowed to call them friends in her internal dialogue. A few determined steps brought her back towards her talking friends, and Jazz pushed her way through the brush, glancing between human and ghost.

"Hey, thought I heard your voices. What's going on?"

"Nothing," Valerie quickly assured her. Next to her, Sidney nodded. Huh. That was surprising.

Jazz shot them both a doubtful look. "Last time I checked, Valerie, you still thought ghosts were scum, and you only talked to Sidney because he had information about Ember, and _only_ while I was there. What changed?"

Valerie shrugged kind of uncertainly. She didn't say anything.

"Oh, well." Jazz looked at Sidney, but he wasn't any help either. "Would it help if… I told you about how we met? Sidney and I?"

"Yeah, I've been wondering about that, actually." Valerie nodded.

"Alright, so." Jazz clapped her hands together, grinning at Valerie, and ignoring Sidney's nerves. Now, how to tell this story with as little lying as possible but without giving away her secret… "So, ghosts were kind of becoming a generally known thing, right? Obviously my parents already believed in them, but now proof was coming out that ghosts really _are_ real, yeah?"

Valerie nodded along, and Jazz continued. "And I saw some kids getting bullied, and I… I just _hate_ that. Having to watch it happen to other kids, knowing they won't target me, but also being powerless to stop it. So I started wondering… If ghosts are real, who says that the Sidney Poindexter from those Casper High rumors isn't also real?"

"Okay…" Valerie said, slowly. "So then why did he suddenly start showing up? Did you meet him afterwards, and was he—" She turned to Sidney, "You, sorry, were _you_ lured here by something? Why did ghost activity go up so much?"

Sidney shot Jazz a worried glance, then, cautiously, explained. "I have a special portal to the Ghost Zone, and only I can go through it. Jazz found it, and must've guessed that that was it, because she tried talking to me through it. That's when I started becoming active around here, and we actually spoke not too long after."

"I see…" Valerie's eyes narrowed in Jazz' direction, almost suspiciously, but she nodded anyway. "What about Specter and Phantom? They seem pretty set on stopping other ghosts from coming here. Didn't they have a problem with you, or can you avoid them with your portal?"

"It's not like that," Sidney immediately corrected, shaking his head. "It's not— they're not like _animals_, it's not some kind of territorial dispute. There are lots of ghosts out there that could—and would—hurt humans if left to their own devices. Usually not on purpose, although exceptions exist, but because they don't know any better. Most animal ghosts, for example, and plenty of more intelligent ones as well. It's…"

He made a face. "It's kind of hard to remember, sometimes, how easy it is to hurt a human. If you've been a ghost for a while. Jazz warns me, sometimes, if I toe the line. If my retaliation against bullies becomes a little too much. But not every ghost has human friends, or contacts, or would even _care_ if they accidentally got a little too rough. _That_ is why Phantom and Specter patrol, and help the town. And sometimes…"

Sidney shrugged, smiling a little. "Sometimes they help ghosts, too. They gave me some of the earlier pointers, on how far I could reasonably go, and how to stay safe from ghost hunters. On places I could go to see… the see _life_, to see the human world, without getting pounced on by ghost hunters."

"I… see." Valerie nodded, slowly, and Jazz could almost _see_ the gears turning in her head. "So there might be… more ghosts, out in Amity, and no one but them would know about it?"

"Possibly," Sidney agreed. "But I don't think many of them stay for long. Natural portals are finicky, and portals like mine are, well, extremely rare, and only work for one ghost. Most of the others that travel to Amity come through the Fenton's artificial portal, but that's…" He made a face. "Well, you kind of have to pass through a ghost hunter's lab just to come and go. Not exactly a risk many ghosts like running."

"So why not just camp out here?" Valerie asked, quirking an eyebrow. "If coming and going is so dangerous, what's stopping them from just setting up base in the city proper, and not returning to the Ghost Zone?"

"They can't," Jazz said, drawing the attention back to her. "Well, most ghosts can't, anyway. They need some form of energy to fuel themselves, or they'll burn out. They usually get it from the ectoplasm in the air, which is high in the Zone, and which the portals expel. It's still kind of high in Amity in general, so ghosts can last a while, but they'll burn out sooner or later. Some ghosts can gain energy from different sources, though. Ember, for example, could draw power from her fans. Other ghosts might draw energy from, for example, human emotions, or even actual electricity."

Valerie shook her head. "But if it's so dangerous, why do they even _try_? If they have to get past ghost hunters just to come here, why would they risk it? What's so alluring about the human world, or so bad about the Ghost Zone, that ghosts feel like they _have_ to come here?"

"It's curiosity and interest, mostly." Sidney frowned a little, in thought. "I can't speak for everyone, of course, and I'm not sure if I would've come here if I had to go through the hunter's portal, but… the Ghost Zone gets boring, if you spend enough time there. I mean, ghosts don't sleep, usually, so we just spend day in day out in the same place. After a decade or two, or in my case, fifty years, wouldn't _you_ risk potential danger just to see something else? And, yes, the world changed while you were out, and isn't that so interesting? If you had the chance to see what the world looked like in fifty years, and even at some risk, wouldn't you?"

"And you have to remember, Valerie, that ghosts are sturdier than humans," Jazz pointed out. "Just getting hit by a few shots from an ecto-gun isn't _that_ painful to most of them, and they heal faster, too. As long as they don't actually get captured for research, run-ins with ghost hunters aren't _that_ dangerous."

"So it's just like… boredom? Wanting to see something different, combined with the fact that traveling here isn't _that_ much of a risk, even with the ghost hunters?" Valerie's eyes narrowed a little, again, but it seemed thoughtful now. Jazz wondered if Valerie knew how probing her questions were, if she realized how suspicious this all sounded without the background knowledge of Red talking to Phantom last night.

"Basically," Sidney admitted with a shrug. "Some of us have different reasons too, of course. Personally, I greatly dislike bullies because of my experiences with them in life, and being able to stop other kids from suffering through the same… I like that, being able to help. Other ghosts might come here to pursue specific interests, too, or to do things they're passionate about, but can't do in the Zone."

"Right, so—" A loud screeching sound interrupted Valerie, suddenly, startling all three of them. The school bell, Jazz realized. Whoops. She'd gotten so caught up in the conversation that she forgot.

"Ah, shit," Valerie swore, snatching her backpack off of the grass. "Jazz, we have the same class first, right?"

"Yeah." She ran through the contents of her backpack, quickly. Did she have everything? Yeah, she thought she did. "Do you need to stop by your locker?"

"Nope. Come on, let's go!" Valerie already started rushing towards the school when she slowed, turning to call over her shoulder. "And Sidney? Thank you for talking to me!"

Jazz was already hurrying after Valerie when she heard Sidney get over his surprise, and yell back, "No problem! Thank you for listening!"

* * *

Danny dove low over some of Amity's buildings, twisting himself into a curling maneuver that was perhaps just a _tad_ unnecessary. So what? He liked flying!

Something in his peripherals drew his attention, and Danny found himself coming to an abrupt halt. It niggled in his mind, somehow, although he didn't know _what _he'd seen.

He turned, trying to figure it out. What could he possibly have seen—

oh.

Freakshow's giant blown-out face grinned at him, the printed image of the red crystal ball instantly drawing Danny's eyes back to it. It itched in his brain, the swirling—

No!

Danny clenched his eyes shut, trying to draw up mental walls to block the image. No! Not _fucking_ again!

He forced himself to continue flying in his original direction, keeping his eyes shut until he felt confident that he'd gone far enough. When he reopened them, he stubbornly refused to look back, no matter how his mind niggled at him that he _should_.

It was far enough from FentonWorks—and Casper High—that Jazz wouldn't come across it. Danny could tell her about the ads when they met in the woods, make sure she knew about the danger. He would have to put a little more thought into Freakshow, figure out how they could deal with him.

Well. Not _them_, that was for sure. He wasn't going anywhere _near_ Freakshow and his crystal ball, and Jazz _definitely_ wasn't.

He touched down in the clearing, Jazz' innocent youthful face greeting him. No, he definitely couldn't let her go anywhere near Freakshow. He'd rather die.

"Sorry, I didn't keep you waiting for too long, did I?" he asked, running his hands through his hair in a hopeless attempt to flatten it some. Just… appear normal, and think it over while training. That'd be alright.

"No, it's fine." Jazz cocked her head, a slight frown to her brow, but didn't comment. "What are we working on today?"

"Well, you've got a pretty good grip on both ecto-rays and shields, so we can move to more advanced techniques." But more advanced offensive techniques weren't really Jazz' jam, were they? "We can see if you can get a grip on something elemental, like electricity, or even ice or fire, or we can try something more neutral. There's this one technique which I can do, but that I've never seen Vlad do, that's like an exploding shield? Like a field which pushes enemies away. You might be able to learn that, if that's more your style."

"Hm. Focusing on more defensive techniques would make my core lean more towards those skills, right?" Jazz twirled a strand of hair, clearly thinking it over. "It would be good to focus on offensive techniques too, especially if I can use them in a variety of situations, but the repulsion field sounds useful too."

Danny nodded. "We can focus on the repulsion field today, and try something elemental the next time. Actually, it might be good to give you homework for that."

"Homework?" Jazz repeated, almost incredulously. "Wow, now you sound like a real teacher. What would homework for this even mean, besides using my powers?"

"Well, elemental powers are finicky. You know how most ghosts tend to focus on a single element, which in turn lead to people concluding that ghost cores must be element-based?" Jazz nodded, and Danny continued. "Right. Obviously that's not the case, but most ghosts still lean towards a single element, or two at max. Beyond that, it gets really complicated to be well-trained in them, and you'll notice that control and power will go down."

"Okay," Jazz said, slowly, drawing out the word, "But how does that factor into homework?"

"I want you to feel out elemental leanings." He formed a shard of ice, holding it up for Jazz to see, then ran lightning over it. "Personally I lean towards electricity, and I picked up ice thanks to a mentor in the Zone. I can do some fire as well, but it's lesser, because I haven't focused on it much. I want you to focus on… well, everything, really. See if there's anything that you particularly feel connected to."

Jazz nodded, and Danny nodded back. "Right, so, that'll be your homework. For now, the… what did you call it? Repulsion field? That's a good name for it, I like that."

She snorted. "Thanks. Can you show it first, so I know what I'm trying to learn?"

"Yeah, of course." He floated up and away a little, making sure that Jazz wasn't too close. Then he curled up in a ball, gathered ectoplasmic energy around himself, like forming an ecto-blast but not in the palm of his hand. The energy gathered, coiling and swirling in a ball around him. When he was satisfied that it was enough for a demonstration, he _pushed_.

The energy blasted away from him, grass and leaves rustling in the sudden rush of wind.

"Wow," Jazz breathed, but she was grinning when he looked at her. "That's so cool! I definitely want to learn how to do that."

Danny drifted closer again. "Right, so there are a few elements to it, but it's pretty similar to ecto-blasts and shields. First, you'll want to curl in tight—less surface for the energy to spread over. Built up the power like an ecto-blast, but around your whole body, rather than just your fist. But it's gotta be strong like a shield! And then, when you think it's ready—or when you can't hold it anymore—push! Uncoil yourself and _shove_ the energy from a shield into a blast!"

Jazz nodded along. "I think I got it. Like a shield, except you can push the energy out into a blast."

"And curling up into a ball! That's important, since it'll help you make the push. Putting a physical element into it—like thrusting out your hand for a blast."

"Gotcha." Jazz pushed herself off of the ground, but didn't quite curl into a ball yet. "How will I know if it's enough energy?"

"It's just experience, really." Danny shrugged. "Kind of like ecto-blasts, you get used to compare energy to power. You can start off easy and build up. That'll be better for your core, too, and it'll be like a warming-up exercise."

She snorted. "I thought there were no warming-up exercises for ghost powers?"

"Oh, shut up," he said without heat, rolling his eyes. "Feel free to overload your core by accidentally drawing out too much energy if that'll make you feel better."

"I take back what I said, you're a terrible teacher," Jazz joked, curling up into a small purple ball. Golden energy startled swirling around her, slowly growing denser.

When she pushed out, the blast only gave off a little energy, the grass barely waving in its wake.

"Oh," she muttered, quietly. Disappointed. "That…"

"Was a good start," Danny finished for her. "You're figuring out the technique first, and the power second. Better to start off weak, but know you're doing it right, than go for too much and accidentally explode your arm, or something."

"Ugh." Jazz made a face. "Did you really have to go that visceral with it?"

No, but he was probably already in a bad mindset from thinking about Freakshow. He shrugged at Jazz, though, instead of vocalizing that. "It worked, didn't it? Now go ahead, you're not gonna get any better by chatting about it."

She sighed, almost petulantly, but curled back up again.

Danny watched her repeat the move several more times, every attempt growing more powerful. When her blast left the trees wavering with aftershocks, Jazz held up a hand, stopping Danny before he could compliment her.

"What's up with you today?" she asked, frowning at him. "And don't give me that face. You've been distracted the whole time."

He hadn't thought he was that obvious about it, but… well, this _was_ Jazz he was dealing with. She could probably see through him like it was nothing.

"It's… eugh. An upcoming confrontation, I guess." He shrugged, vaguely. "It's this one human guy, except he has an artifact that allows him to control ghosts, including _us_, in both human and ghost form. I ran into one of his ads today, and it reminded me that we gotta deal with him, except _we_ can't deal with him, and—"

He stopped. Slapped himself in the face, and groaned dramatically. "Of _course_. _We_ can't deal with him, but we can sic Valerie on him! She'll be immune to his staff, and she'll be enticed to do it because he forces ghosts to do crime, and that's bad."

"Right." Jazz stared at him, her golden eyes piercing right through him. She must've realized how he'd discovered that the staff worked on them. "And that's not… a problem? Sending Valerie to deal with it?"

"Probably not. Sam and Tucker shattered it in my universe, and doing so freed all ghosts under its control," he explained, ignoring the way his stomach curdled. They didn't break it, not like that, but… it was easier than explaining the truth. "I don't know how Val feels about us two, exactly, but if we explain that this guy can make us do terrible things… I bet that that would do the trick."

"Yeah, that seems likely." She frowned, still. "What… How does it work, exactly? Like, can we resist it, somehow?"

"Not… really." He scratched the back of his neck, pushed down the desire to fly away and never talk about it again. "Any command you hear while seeing the crystal ball, you _must_ do. There's no stopping it, it just… drowns you out entirely. Don't even look at the ads, although you might be able to push those out. The TV ads, especially, are a no-go."

His grim tone seemed to function as a wake-up call, because she nodded, and didn't push. "Valerie sounds like a good plan, yeah. Do you want to go look for her now?"

"Nah." He shook his head. "We're training now. I'll talk to her later, and you can do your homework. Like, your real actual homework."

"Yeah, alright," Jazz allowed. "But we probably shouldn't continue for too much longer, in that case."

"Probably," he agreed. "That'd be better for your core, too, if we don't strain it like that."

"One more, then?" She was already lifting up from the ground, curling into a ball.

"Better make it good!"

She laughed as her golden ectoplasm gathered around her. "I'll give you a show, alright!"

The energy burst with such power that it knocked Danny over entirely. The woods rattled with the wind, branches snapping off and raining down.

"Uh, whoops." Jazz laughed sheepishly. "That was maybe a little too much."

"Maybe," Danny agreed, floating upright again. "But you might need that much if you're surrounded by ghosts. It was a good lesson, anyway."

Jazz nodded. "Good luck with Valerie. Let me know if there are any problems."

"I can handle it, Jazz." He rolled his eyes, exasperatedly. "But, yes, I'll let you know if there's anything you need to worry about. Good luck with your homework. Both human _and_ ghostly."

"Yes, Mr. Phantom." She stuck out a tongue, a warm green, but pulled it back in quickly. Too childish, probably. "See you Friday."

She pushed off, and he watched her go. "And avoid those Freakshow ads!" he shouted after her, feeling satisfied at her wave back.

Well. No putting it off any longer.

Danny let himself float up as well, flying back to Amity at a more casual pace. He _could_ go looking for Valerie, yes, but he would probably have more luck drawing her to him. She had ghost scanners, but he didn't have any human scanners.

He hovered over a quiet street—after making sure no Freakshow ads were nearby—and pretended to be looking for something. It didn't take long for the roar of Valerie's hoverboard to reach him.

Ah. He loved it when something went according to plan for once.

"Phantom. Looking for something?" Valerie asked, pulling to a halt beside him.

"You, actually," he admitted easily. "Specter and I could use your help with something."

Her posture was tensed—and had tensed up even further when he spoke—but she didn't raise her gun. "With what?" she asked, shortly.

"Have you seen the ads for that goth circus? With their ringmaster, Freakshow?" He waited for her nod before he continued. "His staff has this weird crystal ball, bright red? It's… I don't know what it is, actually, but it can used to control ghosts. All of the people in Freakshow's show are ghosts he's forcing to participate, and that's not the only thing he uses them for."

"It's not?" Valerie sounded almost incredulous.

"Nah. Apparently circuses don't pay enough, because Freakshow has his ghost army stealing, too. You can follow the trail through the few cities he's been in, and he'll start doing the same here, probably. Might even try luring Specter or I out in the open so he can control us as well, since we're tons stronger than the ghosts he has now. We know better, but, y'know." He shrugged.

"You can't come nearby without getting affected?" she guessed.

"Yeah, basically." He huffed out something that was almost a laugh. "Besides, it would be better to let the human hunter deal with the human enemy. We wanted to call the police on him for the robberies, but someone needs to deal with the staff first. As long as Freakshow has his army of ghosts, he can just use them to escape from the law."

Valerie nodded. "Gotcha. I'll investigate, and if you're speaking the truth—which I bet you are, because this sounds too crazy to be a lie—I'll deal with Freakshow." She made a face. "Ugh, is that really his name?"

"Stage name, I think. I don't exactly do research on my enemies, though." He shot her a grateful grin. "But, hey, thanks. Specter and I really appreciate it."

"I'm not doing it for you," Valerie said, coarsely. "But whatever. I'll make sure you don't have to worry about that crystal ball anymore."

That… seemed like a strange way to word it. Ah, whatever. He was probably just being paranoid, now, driven up by Freakshow's reappearance.

"Right. Well, thanks anyway. Have a good night, Red."

She nodded. "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

Her hoverboard roared as she left again.

* * *

"Did you hear?" Jazz asked Valerie, once she thought the locker room had gotten empty enough to get away with it. "About that guy's arrest?"

"Who, the creepy ringmaster that could literally control ghosts?" Valerie scoffed. "Yeah. Did your parents go crazy about that?"

"Kinda, yeah." Jazz straightened her shirt, then reached for her hair. Started twisting it up into a ponytail. "I'm glad, though. Imagine how powerful that guy could've gotten if he managed to get his hands on a _really_ powerful ghost, like Phantom?"

Valerie hummed, but didn't say anything. Jazz turned slightly to squint at her.

"What?" Valerie asked, raising an eyebrow. Her expression was… weird, though. Hard to read. "Yeah, I guess that that could've been bad. No point in speculating, though. For all we know Phantom and Specter just wanted us to deal with Freakshow, and are now free to hurt the city."

Jazz felt her stomach roil. "Do you really think that?" she asked, lowering her hands again. The end of her ponytail brushed along her neck, something it didn't do in her ghost form—the strands defied gravity like that.

Valerie seemed to stare at her for ages.

"Not really," she finally said, after what felt like forever. "I just…" Valerie sighed and shrugged, taking her eyes off of Jazz. She walked out of the locker room before Jazz could say anything.

"Weird," she muttered to herself. It was almost like Valerie… knew. But there was no way, right?

Just paranoia. Things were weird, so of course she was overly wary. Nothing to worry about.

* * *

*casually drops personal headcanons re: ghost cores all over this fic* Also obviously Phantom wouldn't mess with Freakshow again, and he definitely wouldn't let Jazz come near that guy, either. In the original concept for this chapter, our two half-ghosts would inform her anonymously and sic her on Freakshow that way, but with the changes to chapter 11 Valerie had enough character development to do it like this.

Next week, chapter 13: Doctor's Disorders


	13. Doctor's Disorders

Danny was in the middle of his usual evening patrol when he heard the roar of Valerie's hoverboard again. He sighed but slowed, coming to a stop above a quiet street.

It wasn't hard to guess what she wanted to talk about. Freakshow's arrest was the big talk of the day, since it was breaking news this morning. And, well, he _had_ sent Valerie to deal with it for him. He owed her that much, at least.

Before long, Valerie came into view, her bright red suit clearly visible even in the falling darkness. Some corner of Danny's brain itched at the sight, but he dismissed it—he just hadn't gotten quite used to seeing Valerie in her old suit, that was all.

And then she was in front of him, and his brain _screamed_ and his core ached like an old wound and, oh, yeah, hm.

Because in her hand, she held a long staff, topped off with a large red crystal ball.

"Phantom," Valerie greeted him when she drew even. Her hold on the staff was loose, but just seeing it prevented Danny from moving a muscle. "I'm glad you waited for me. Don't think I could've caught up with you otherwise."

If he tried, he could outfly her, yes, but he usually didn't patrol at his top speed. Not that he could tell her that, with the ball present. Without an active command to follow, it just drowned the world out, dulling his senses. Everything felt muted. Well. Everything but Valerie and the ball.

"No response? Huh." She cocked her head, then followed his line of sight back to the red crystal. "Oh, does it work even without a command? Guess I'll get right to the point."

She cleared her throat, and Danny's eyes snapped over to her.

"Wow, uh, the unblinking stare is a little creepy. Wait. Why are your eyes red now? Is that because of the ball? Oh, shit, wait, I'm rambling. Phantom." She cleared her throat again, then straightened her posture, as if she could dispel her nerves that easily. "Phantom, I want you to tell me if you and Specter are really threats. And be _honest_."

"Well," Danny started. He didn't think he wanted to tell her this, but the buzzing in his mind, echoed in his core, was just so _loud_. He couldn't find the words to say anything but what Valerie asked of him. "Specter is young still. Her core still has quite a ways to go before it reaches maturity, so she'll slowly grow stronger over time. Her powers can still go a lot of directions based on the way she uses them, but she's leaning towards more defensive powers, now. And she's very true, very honest. Even if she had powerful offensive capabilities, she wouldn't be a threat."

He paused, just for a moment too long, because Valerie asked, "And you?"

"My core is fully matured, and I'm powerful, even for a mature ghost. Most of my powers are offensive in nature, and some are extremely destructive, or could be used that way." He swallowed. His throat felt dry, all of a sudden. Memories of the would-be future, of _Dan's_ future, played through his mind, unbidden. "I… I could be a threat. I could be the most destructive ghost to set foot on this planet. I could lay waste to all of Amity, destroy it like it was nothing. Nobody would have the power—the inventions—to stop me."

It felt like his throat had closed up, but still he kept talking. "But I… I promised I wouldn't be. I would rather see myself destroyed than see that happen. My… my friends, my family. I _promised_ them, Valerie, I said I would never be that person."

"Jesus, Phantom," Valerie whispered. "Man, you're crying." He was? "You can wipe that off of your face if you want, jeez. You don't have to hold still for a statue for me."

A numbness—he hadn't even realized he _was_ numb—ebbed away from his core. His limbs stopped feeling like they were made of lead, now, and when had that even started? He lifted a hesitant hand to his face, wiping away— yes, indeed, tears.

"Well, shit, you were maybe a little too honest there. Didn't even realize that that was possible." Valerie's voice was quiet, low, like she was talking to herself. Did she know he could hear her? That his ears were straining to make out every word she spoke, looking for commands that he didn't even _want_, but still _needed_? "Fuck, though. That was genuine distress. Definitely not a threat if he can help it."

She shook the staff a little, drawing Danny's eyes back to it. What was she…?

"Oh, Phantom," Valerie said, louder now, and he turned back to her. "I had another question. Or, well, a theory? That I wanted you to confirm for me."

He didn't want to, and couldn't open his mouth to tell her so. His head nodded of its own accord.

"Good," she said, pleased, like he'd had a real choice in the matter. Didn't she know? "So, Specter. She's… not a proper ghost, is she? Or she can take up a human guise, or something? But she's. She's Jazz Fenton, right? Tell me if I'm right about that."

No.

"Yes, Jazz Fenton is half-ghost, and calls herself Specter in her ghost form."

Valerie nodded, slowly, like she wasn't really surprised. Danny figured she wasn't, not really, if she asked him to confirm. It didn't stop him from feeling guilty about revealing Jazz' secret, though, but it was hard to think about that with the buzzing in his mind.

"Okay, so you're Danny Fenton, aren't you?"

"Yes," Danny said. He didn't elaborate. She hadn't asked for the whole truth. Hopefully this universe's Danny wouldn't mind.

"Well, that was all." She turned to look at the crystal staff, then back to him. "Phantom, you're free to go."

Finally the buzzing faded away, and Danny immediately clenched his eyes shut. He refused to look at the ball again. _Couldn't_ look at the ball again.

"Valerie," he gritted out, through his teeth. "Break that thing right this fucking second, or I will do it. And I'll do it _blind_."

"What? As long as no one's using it to rob stores or whatever it's fine, right?" She didn't even sound apologetic. "Wouldn't that be a way better method to stop dangerous ghosts from coming into the city?"

"Do you even know what that staff _does_?" he growled, fingers digging into the skin around his eyes. Double up on protection against the staff, so he doesn't accidentally open his eyes and see it. "You can't— You can't _imagine_ how it feels, to have control over your _everything_ wrenched away like that! The moment a ghost, _any_ ghost, lays their eyes on that staff, it's like someone closes a vice around your very _self_. The world fades away and your mind is just a soft buzz, and it's like nothing exists except that god _damn_ staff and whoever is fucking holding it!"

"Oh." Her voice was quiet now, too quiet for Danny to make out any emotions. He consoled himself that he wouldn't be able to read her expression anyway, with the mask. "I didn't… Is that how it works?"

"_Yes_," he bit out. "And I refuse to let that thing exist for a second more. Break it, Valerie, or I will."

There was a shifting noise, and Danny tensed himself, ready to make the shot. He didn't know where it was, would undoubtedly hit Valerie, but…

A crashing noise, like breaking glass.

He opened his eyes automatically, peeking between his fingers to see the staff in Valerie's hands. The crystal ball was gone, reduced to red shards on her hoverboard.

It still itched in his mind, the fragments of swirls sharp and cutting.

A whine, a flash of light. A sensation of hot-cold.

And again.

"Are you…" he blinked away the after-images of red, red, _red_, to shoot an incredulous look at Valerie. "Are you _shooting_ the shards?"

"Making sure it's really destroyed," she said, flat. "I. Shit, man. I just wanted someone to tell me the _truth_ for once, to be honest with me. Not… I didn't…"

He heaved a breath, something that could've been a sigh. "I figured. I just… I trusted you to deal with that, to make sure it wasn't an issue."

"And I turned it against you." Her voice was grim. "Shit, Danny, I'm sorry. I genuinely didn't realize it was that bad. Fuck."

"Don't… worry too much about it." He wanted her to realize how fucked-up that was, but… but drowning her in guilt wouldn't do either of them any good. "It happened. Make sure it doesn't happen again."

"Yeah. I… yeah." She nodded, her eyes wandering back to the scorched remains of the crystal ball. They had molten under the ectoplasmic blasts of Valerie's weaponry, scorched black and misshapen. She still held the staff. "Is the rest dangerous too, or was it just the ball?"

"Just the ball." He shook his head, like he could throw the memories off that easily. Well. At least it would be hard to have nightmares with how little he slept nowadays. "What… If you kept the staff, what happened to other ghosts? The ones Freakshow had under control?"

Valerie poked the shards with the staff, rolling them around on her board. "I let them go. Took the staff right from Freakshow's hands, and told the other ghosts they were free to go, that it wouldn't control them again. Was that… right? Okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that would've done the trick." That, at least, was some comfort. And she didn't mean it, not like that, and he _got_ that, but still. Doing something terrible because you didn't realize it was so bad doesn't make it _okay_. "I… I'm gonna go."

"Right," she said. "Um. I'll finish up your patrol for you."

He nodded. Didn't say anything as he left. Thanking her would've been polite, but then, she could've just _asked_ for more information, instead of… _that_.

* * *

"Um, Phantom?"

Danny turned around, frowning at the person he saw there. "Sidney? What's up?"

"I, uh." The full ghost shifted, uncertainly. "A bunch of the kids at Casper High are getting sick, and developing ghost powers. Jazz asked if you knew more about that?"

"_Dammit_," he swore, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Fuck, yeah, unfortunately I do." He lifted up from the rooftop, thankfully already in his ghost form. "Come on, let's go."

"Oh, uh, yes!"

The flight back was quick—maybe a little too quick for Sidney—and left them hovering over the school. Luckily Danny didn't have to worry about finding Jazz, because she joined them soon enough.

"Phantom! So, the sickness—"

"It gives them ghost powers, yeah. It's a side-effect from something else, it's not like being half-ghost." He cast out his ghost sense, picking up the muffled effect of the overshadowing mosquitoes, but none were left out in the open. "It's caused by tiny mosquito ghosts. They phase into students, almost like overshadowing but not quite. Their presence causes ecto-contamination, which is slowly poisoning the students."

"And that will kill them," Jazz realized, grimly. "So we need to get them out. But why? How?"

"They're Spectra's. She's using them to farm human DNA from desirable targets. Everyone else is just… caught in the wave, I guess." He made a face. "She's trying to build a perfect human body for herself, that's why she's targeting the kids. Youth, y'know? We need to get the mosquitoes out."

"Okay, so I repeat, _how_?" She gestured at the parents that were already gathering in the parking lot, all hearing about the sick kids. Coming to hear more about how _their_ kid is doing. "And how do we stop Spectra?"

He hummed, thinking it over for a moment. "Alright, here's my idea. First of all, we need someone we can trust to run the quarantine, or else Bertrand will do it. We can…" Oh, now there was an idea. Jazz was gonna hate it, but it would _work_. "We'll get the Fenton parents to run it. You can use your ghost powers to pretend you're sick, and I'll come with as your brother. Put up a bit of a play like _"wow, isn't that strangely ghostly?"_ and they'll jump to take control of this situation. If Spectra isn't running the quarantine, she can't access the DNA she wants, and she'll be forced out into the open."

"Oh yeah, because that went so well last time." Jazz frowned, clearly hesitant. "I don't know, Phantom. You haven't interacted with anyone in your human form in ages. I'm not sure if that's a good idea. And there's no way my brother _won't_ find out. What would _he_ think, when he hears about this?"

Uh. Did she not… Wow, Danny, what a screw-up. Did he seriously forget to tell Jazz that her actual brother knew the whole story? Good going, pal.

"We'll deal with that when it comes to it," he said, instead of trying to explain all that. They were in a hurry, now. Had to get their parents to take the quarantine before Spectra and Bertrand could. "We have to hurry, now. Come on, let's find a quiet spot to shift back."

* * *

"Your clothes like terrible," Jazz said, the moment Phantom shifted to human form, and she felt like she could slap herself. "You should've told me! I could've bought you something less worn down!"

"It's fine, Jazz." He tugged on the hem of his shirt, clearly self-conscious now. "I'm usually in my ghost form anyway. Come on, let's go find our— _your_ parents."

"Right," she said, following him. She made a mental note to get Phantom new clothes after this was all done.

Luckily, their parents were easy to find. The two were to the side of the mob, clearly unwilling to join in just yet. Probably because they didn't have confirmation that their kids were sick, too.

It made Jazz feel a little guilty about what they were about to do, but… Phantom was right. This was the best plan they had, and they couldn't risk anything else, not with the kids as sick as they were.

"Mom, Dad!" Phantom yelled, and Jazz let herself go soft and pliable against his side. Time to act like her life depended on it.

"Danny, Jazz!" her mom called back, rushing their way. "Oh, Jazz, honey, are you sick too?"

She murmured something incomprehensible, bobbing her head in a limp nod. She flapped a hand in their direction, but turned it invisible, making the gesture useless. Useless for gesturing, but _perfect_ for demonstrating.

"Oh, kiddo." Her dad crowded against her, taking her weight from Phantom. "Shouldn't you be with the other kids, if you're so sick?" His voice was quiet with worry.

"Sorry, it's just." Phantom paused, gesturing at her. She took it for the cue it probably was, and flickered invisible for a moment. He nodded, almost imperceptibly, and continued. "I just thought the symptoms were… strangely ghostly? Like, what kind of normal sickness would make people go invisible, or intangible, or _fly_?"

A gloved hand pressed against Jazz' cheek as her mom leaned in closer. "Yes, that is very odd. It's almost like ecto-contamination, isn't it, Jack? Except no one develops ghost-like abilities with that."

Ha. Little did she know.

"That's certainly concerning," her dad agreed, wrapping an arm more tightly around her, like he could make sure she couldn't go anywhere. She flickered herself invisible once more, feeling his grip tighten a little more in response. "We'll have to set up some kind of quarantine, figure out what caused this and how to fix this. Danny, you aren't sick, right?"

Phantom jerked, startled. "Uh, no, no, I'm fine. You go take care of this, I'll stay clear. I…" He looked at Jazz, licked his lips. "I wouldn't want to get sick too."

"Okay. You go back home, then. You might need to make your own dinner, though. We might be a while."

"Yeah, sure." He nodded. "I, uh, better get going then." His eyes darted between all three of them. "And, uh. Stay safe."

"We will, sweetie." Her mom pressed a kiss to Phantom's forehead, before turning back to Jack and Jazz. "Let's get going. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll figure this out."

They moved back to the crowd of parents, leaving Phantom in the hallway. He watched them go, blinking after them. Almost… stunned? And, oh.

He hadn't interacted with their parents all this time. This plan, no matter how _she_ might've felt about it, had forced him to talk to her own parents, to pretend that it hadn't been months since he had seen his own.

And her mom had _kissed_ him. On his forehead.

She snapped back to the moment when she heard her mom raise her voice, but she wasn't talking to Jazz. Cold seeped from her core, and, ah. This sketchy doctor-looking guy was Bertrand. That made sense.

"I don't care that you're from the _government_," Maddie said, sharply. "These kids are suffering from an illness of ectoplasmic origin. The government doesn't have the resources, nor the experience, to deal with this properly. I will not see these kids suffer from your ignorance. Jack and I are ghost experts, and _we_ will handle this. You can tell your boss _that_."

The doctor sneered, but nodded, once, jerkily. Then he turned around and stormed out.

Soon, Spectra would know, and she would come. Jazz would have to leave as soon as possible, so she could help Phantom fight her.

Her parents brought her into the re-purposed gym, steering her into one of the makeshift rooms. Jazz stepped inside, already halfway through pulling on her core when she realized she wasn't alone.

"Jazz?" Valerie asked, pushing herself up on her elbows. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm, uh. Sick." She loosened her grip on her core again. Shifting to ghost form would not only reveal her secret to Valerie, but break all the trust they had built. Val wasn't _that_ trusting of ghosts yet. She would hate them forever, if she found out that Jazz was one—or part of one.

"Right," Valerie said, sounding utterly unconvinced. She flapped a hand, red ectoplasm curdling around it. "Like I am?"

Jazz flickered invisible demonstratively, but Valerie's flat look remained.

"Look, Jazz. You look like you're itching to leave." Which was true, but also, _rude_. "Just go. I know a ghost situation when I see one, and this one has ghostly shenanigans written all over it."

"Fair enough, but…" She frowned at Valerie. "Why would that involve me going anywhere?"

Valerie's look, impossibly, grew even flatter. "Because you're Specter? Look, it's pretty obvious when you get as many clues I picked up on. Just go, I'll cover for you if your parents come back."

She felt her heart skip a beat—or two, maybe—at Valerie's admission. "You _know_? Since when?!"

"Since not that long ago." Valerie shook her head, dismissive. "We'll talk it through later. You probably need to be out there now, don't you?"

"Yeah, well, you're probably jumping to come too, aren't you?" She quirked an eyebrow at Valerie. "Since you're the Red Huntress and all that?"

Valerie tensed a little. "It's not like that matters," she finally said, hesitantly. "I don't have any of my gear with me. I won't be any help."

Jazz snorted, gesturing at Valerie's hand, which glowed with red ectoplasm once more. "What's that, then? A night light?"

"You want me to join you?" Valerie shook her head. "That would out my identity. I can't do that, Jazz."

"Not if you don't go alone, it won't." And, hey, that was an idea. Using those powers wouldn't speed up the illness, but it _would_ help her and Phantom. "I'll shift, and round up a bunch of the students as Specter. You can join in inconspicuously."

"I don't even know how to fire a shot with this!" Valerie shook her glowing hand demonstratively. "How would I be any help?!"

"You guys might get in a lucky shot or two. At the very least, you'll be a distraction to Spectra." Jazz tugged on her core, shifted to Specter in a bright flash of light. "Keep an ear out for me, okay?"

"Fine," Valerie muttered, standing up from the bed. "But if I accidentally blast you or your brother I won't take responsibility."

Jazz laughed, feeling lighter already. "Duly noted."

She passed through a few of the rooms and was pleased to find that most students cheered upon seeing her. Few had powers that could be useful in a fight, but Jazz asked them all along nonetheless. And, shockingly, almost all came.

The sounds of a fight reached her once she got close enough to the gym's walls, and she guided her small army of ghost-powered students to a nearby door. While they navigated there without being noticed, Jazz phased through the wall, finding the hallway beyond occupied.

"Specter!" Phantom greeted her, before pausing to shoot an ecto-blast at Spectra. "Glad to see you!"

"I came as quickly as I could," she assured him, firing a few blasts of her own. "Where's Bertrand?"

"Dealt with him first." Phantom dodged left to avoid Spectra's lunge, and Jazz dove right.

Faintly, she could hear footsteps approaching. Good. Backup was on the way.

"Aren't you two _precious_?" Spectra crooned, grinning at them. "I feel like I could melt looking at you!"

"I wish you would," Phantom muttered venomously, and Jazz laughed. "Seriously, can't you just take the hint and stay gone?"

"Oh, like the two of you are any threat to me!" She laughed, honey-sweet and sharp as a knife.

A bolt of ectoplasm hit Spectra right in the chest, knocking her flat against a wall.

It was red.

"Good shot!" Jazz shouted down as the crowd of students cheered. "Come on, Phantom, let's go show her how _pathetic_ we are!"

Phantom grinned back. "Good thinking!"

They rained down ecto-blasts upon Spectra, gold and green and occasional flashes of other colors—Valerie's red, but also blue and even pink—until the ghost was collapsed on the ground. Not once did the blasts let up enough for Spectra to move.

"Keep it up!" Jazz called, reaching for her Thermos. Phantom's blasts grew faster, and the students in the crowd seemed to double their efforts, too. Paulina had found her way to the front, and apparently had some sort of ice powers, repeatedly freezing Spectra's arms to the floor. Valerie, right next to her, proved her unerring aim by landing blast after blast of red energy against the ghost.

Her hands wrapped around the Thermos, one hand on the lid, ready to release it, Jazz dove. Just before she reached Spectra, she yelled, "_Stop_!"

Silence fell as everyone halted, and Jazz uncapped the Thermos. Spectra screeched, but couldn't escape the beam.

Jazz re-capped the Thermos, huffing out an exhausted but satisfied breath. "Got her."

The other kids cheered, the sound only broken by the occasional cough or wheeze.

"Thanks for your help, folks," Phantom said, lowering himself to talk to them more easily. "Really, you guys did great. But please get back to your quarantine now, before you get any sicker, yeah?"

They started heading back again, taking the hint when she and Phantom flew up higher again.

"That was a clever idea," Phantom complimented, taking the Thermos from her. "But now you gotta go back and hide with them. I'll see if I can figure out a way to replicate the solution from last time, okay?"

"Yeah, alright. Thanks." She ran a hand through her hair, her core constricting at the upcoming conversation. "Did you know that Valerie figured me out?"

Phantom flinched, almost imperceptibly. "I… Yeah. Is that why it took so long?"

"That, and gathering the other students." Jazz looked at him, but Phantom's posture had gotten stiff, defensive. Whatever happened, he didn't want to talk about it. She would do him that favor. "I'd better get going. See you later, Phantom."

"Yeah," he said, then cleared his throat. Summoned an almost-real smile. "See you later, Jazz."

She flew back down, invisible as she phased back in her room with Valerie. She touched down, dropped her invisibility, and shifted back in one swift movement.

"Welcome back to the land of the sick," Valerie greeted her, sitting on the edge of her bed. "Now what?"

"I'm working on it." She ran a hand through her hair, carding it. "I know how it's caused, but I don't know how to stop it. Phantom has more experience, he'll figure something out soon enough."

Valerie frowned at her, opened her mouth as if to say something, but the cloth that formed a door to their ramshackle room rustled, stopping her.

"Hey kids," Maddie's voice sounded from the opening. "We figured out a solution. Come on!"

"Coming, Mom!" Jazz assured her, and watched her mom disappear again. She turned back to Valerie. "Let's go, before it gets worse."

"What about you?" Valerie pushed herself to her feet again, wavering for a short moment before stabilizing. "You're not really sick, are you?"

Jazz ducked under Valerie's arm, offering a bit of support. "I'll find a moment to duck out, or whatever. It'll be fine."

"Hm."

They joined Maddie in the sort-of hallway, other sick students trailing after her.

"Hey, Mom? How did you figure out the fix so quickly?" Jazz asked, walking a little closer to talk more easily. "Wasn't it a really weird thing?"

"Yes, that's true," Maddie agreed easily. "We weren't sure how to deal with it, actually, but your brother had a brilliant idea! Our Fenton Ghost Catcher can filter out ectoplasmic contamination, and this is undoubtedly caused by such contamination!"

"Huh." She wasn't sure why she was surprised by that. Of course Phantom had come in to steer their parents into the right solution.

They entered the open space, where her Dad was waiting with the Ghost Catcher. Jazz hadn't even realized that it did anything but, well. If it was Phantom's idea, it must've worked. Now she just had to find a way to duck out.

"So now what?" Valerie asked, low. "Because that thing will deal with your whole half-ghost thing too, won't it?"

"Probably," Jazz whispered back. "Can you stand on your own? I'll try to sneak out, or something."

"Yeah, sure." Valerie freed herself from Jazz' grasp, but frowned at her. "But won't your parents worry, if you're the only person who didn't get 'cured'?"

She made a face. Yeah, they probably would.

"Oh, Jazz!" Phantom hurried up to her, in his human form, and took her arm. "I told our parents I would give you a proper decontamination at home. Come on, let's go."

Jazz blinked at him, then nodded. "Uh, yeah, of course. Bye Val, see you later."

Phantom dragged her along, and they stayed quiet until they were alone in the hallways.

"Thanks, Phantom," she told him then. "I wasn't sure how to get out of that alone."

He jerked to a stop, dropping her arm. Turned to frown at her. "Didn't Phantom tell you?" he asked, and, uh, what?

"What?"

Sky blue eyes blinked at her for a moment, and, uh.

"Wait, shit. Danny?" What? How? _When_? How many people knew her secret but didn't tell her! "Danny! When did you find out?!"

"I— during your last fight with Spectra?" He seemed confused. "Seriously, I talked with Phantom, or other Danny, or whatever. Did he not tell you?"

"No?" What the fuck? "Why didn't _you_ tell me?!"

"Well, he—Phantom—said that his older sibling held off with telling him for a while, so." Danny shrugged, a little helplessly. "I figured I would hold off too, but I thought that Phantom would end up telling you anyway."

"Oh my god. You're the worst." She pressed her head against his shoulder. "The both of you, by the way. You're both terrible Danny Fenton."

"Thanks," Danny said dryly. "I'll be sure to remember that next time you need help."

She groaned into his shoulder.

"Why haven't you told our parents, anyway?" he asked, after a long moment of silence. "Not be pushy or anything, but wouldn't that be way safer?"

"Probably," Jazz admitted, voice muffled by Danny's shirt. "But they're so hateful towards ghosts, still. And I _know_ that they'll accept me anyway, half-ghost or not, but. I want them to change their minds, first, and they won't do that if they'll blame all my goodness on being part human."

Danny shrugged, dislodging her. "Fair enough. But you should probably plan for the occasion, anyway."

"Yeah," Jazz agreed, even though she hoped it was ages away. For all she knew, _they_ already knew her secret, too. "I guess I should."

* * *

Fun fact: this chapter was planned to go up really late because I had an IRL event happening this entire weekend. But, well... you know. So now it's up at the normal time!

Anyway yeah Valerie definitely took the staff from Freakshow. I honestly... hadn't even planned it in the original draft? Valerie really got a way bigger role in this story as a whole, because she wouldn't have been included in this chapter at all. She wasn't even going to discover about Jazz/Specter. Whack.

Danny/Phantom is a little too good at keeping secrets, sometimes. It makes working with someone more-or-less equal to him (Specter) a huge pain because he forgets to communicate important stuff. Things like "oh Jazz, your actual brother totally knows that you're half-ghost". Y'know. Small stuff.

On a non-Absurdism related note, I uploaded a new one-shot for the Phight yesterday! But absolutely devoured the formatting so it's only on AO3. So, if you want a nice little 4k Twitter-fic, you can go to archiveofourown users /DarkNymfa, and it should be one of the highest listed, "Of Tweets and Twats".

Next week, Chapter 14: Pirate Radio


	14. Pirate Radio

"You're the worst little sister in the history of little sisters," Danny grumbled without heat. He moved, slumping further into the cushions of the couch.

Jazz snorted. "I can't possibly be _that_ bad."

"No, you are." He somehow buried himself even further. "I bet no one else has to worry about their little sister finding and befriending an alternate universe of themselves, the older sibling."

"That's just an inherent risk of being a Fenton, Danny," Jazz pointed out, quirking an eyebrow at him even if he couldn't see it. "You'll have to blame our parents for that, not me."

"Counter-argument. The befriending part is definitely a you thing."

She blew a raspberry at him. "Like _you_ wouldn't have made friendly with an alternate universe version of me, given the chance."

Danny hummed. "Not if she was as annoying as you."

"Rude." She reached over to swat at his shoulder. "I'm stronger than you, you know?"

He made a derisive noise.

"You suck," she told him, sitting down properly again. "I'm leaving."

Just as she shifted to the edge of the couch, however, their parents appeared in the doorway to the kitchen.

"Hey kids," her dad boomed, pushing his way in first. "We have talk to you two."

Jazz' core whirred nervously. Uh oh. That didn't sound good.

Her mom stepped in after Dad, holding… oh no, was that the Ghost Finder? Shoot, she didn't realize that they had built another one.

"Jack," Maddie said, softly, holding up the invention. He leaned over to look on the screen and frowned.

Danny, next to her, had pushed himself into a sitting position again. He nudged her, gently, in a rather sad attempt at comfort.

It helped, though.

"Huh." Jack turned to frown at her and Danny, but he was clearly still looking at the Finder from his peripherals. "That's strange."

Maddie clicked her tongue, then nodded. She lowered the invention again, and looked at Jazz and Danny directly. "What we _wanted_ to talk about, kids, were the events of a few days ago."

"That weird ghost sickness slash contamination thing?" Danny asked, his confusion not sounding quite genuine enough. "Why? What about it?"

"It… opened our eyes, I suppose you could say." Her mom moved, perching on the arm of the armchair in front of her and Danny. "For years, we believed that humans and ghosts were entirely separate entities. Even if a human could _become_ a ghost, it was a binary process. You were either fully human, or fully ghost. Those two states couldn't be blended, not in the least. Or so we thought."

"But those kids at the school, they all had ghost-like powers because of their contamination," Jack continued. "But they hadn't gone through the entire process, hadn't made the full transition to a ghost. Which made us realize… If _they_ could be humans with ghost-like abilities, caused by some sort of ectoplasmic contamination… Anyone else could be, too."

"And I don't think anyone could deny the similarities between Phantom and Specter and our children," Maddie finished off. "In hindsight, it was glaringly obvious. Only…"

Jazz huffed out a laugh. "But only one of us shows up on the scanner, huh?"

"It makes no sense!" Jack blurted out, waving a hand at the invention. "By that logic, I could imagine that Specter's core is too young, not mature enough, to show up, assuming it gets muted by her… human form? But, no, it's _Danny_ who appears fully human! Only minor ecto-contamination."

"Which is obviously the fault of him not wearing proper protection when in the lab, young man," Maddie chided.

Danny made a face. "Everything in this house is contaminated anyway. What's the point of protecting yourself in the lab if the kitchen is almost as bad? Never mind all the food."

Jazz swatted at him. "Danny, can we please focus on the serious conversation?" She turned to their parents. "Look, it's… complicated."

"God, did he train you to use that as an answer or do you two just spend that much time together?" Danny complained, pushing her with his shoulder. To their parents, he said, "Your scanner is right, I'm no more ghostly than you two. Jazz has a core, but she's more human than ghost, I think. She defaults back to human when she falls asleep, anyway."

"It's his go-to answer for everything," she explained with a roll of her eyes. "But, yes. I'm half-ghost. I _think_ that it's a pretty even balance, but, well. While human—alive—is my standard state of being, my core never goes away entirely. It gets… what did you call it, muted? I guess that that's a good word for it. It's weaker in human form, which makes it harder to use my powers, but it's not impossible. I'm always a little ghostly in human form, and a little human in ghost form."

Maddie nodded, slowly, her brow creased in thought. "So then… who is Phantom? He looks…" She trailed off, looking at Danny.

"Yeah, it's complicated." Jazz bit her lip, looking between her three family members. The conversation seemed to be going alright, but… having someone with more experience with this present would be a help. A comfort, if nothing else. "I can go get him? He can probably explain it better than I can."

Her parents frowned, but nodded their permission anyway. Jazz stood up, then hesitated.

"I, uh. Do you mind if I shift into my ghost form here, or should I leave first?"

They shared a look—more like a silent conversation—before Maddie licked her lips and said, carefully, "No, go ahead. It would be… good. To see, I mean."

"Right." Jazz nodded back, then tugged on her core, ignoring her racing heartbeat. The transformation washed over her in a brief flash of light, and she grinned at her parents, unsure. "Tah-dah?"

"Wow," Jack breathed. Both of them were clearly stunned. "Years of research disproven, just like that."

She hesitated, and Maddie must've realized why, because she waved a hand. "Go find Phantom, honey. We just… It's one thing to know, and another to see."

Of course. She knew that, didn't she? That was why she was so thrown off whenever she saw Phantom in his human form.

"Yeah," she said, letting herself float a little. "I'll be right back, then."

Jazz turned herself invisible—ignoring their startled noises—and phased out of FentonWorks. Look, she had nothing to hide to them, but it would be suspicious if people saw her!

Luckily Phantom hadn't left for patrol yet, lounging on a nearby rooftop. He jerked upright when he saw Jazz, immediately shifting into his ghost form. "Jazz?"

"Hey, so, uh." Suddenly she felt a little silly. Surely she and Danny could've handled this alone? But she was here now, and her parents wanted to see Phantom, so… "Um. My parents figured out my secret? Apparently they had another ghost scanner, but now they're confused because their son is human, and they wanted to know who Phantom was? Could you, uh, come along?"

Phantom's expression had grown increasingly uncomfortable as she spoke, but he still nodded after she finished talking. "Yeah, sure. How did they… react?"

"It was…" She considered it. "Not that bad, I guess? But maybe they haven't quite processed it yet. I figured they would be okay with it, anyway, so it's not that surprising."

"If you thought they would accept you, why…" He paused, dusting off his jumpsuit rather pointlessly. Stalling for time, she figured. "Why didn't you tell them sooner?"

She shrugged. "I wanted them to change their minds about ghosts. Specter, and later Phantom, were the easiest examples of ghosts doing good, and I thought that they would blame everything on us being part human if they knew."

"That… makes sense." He sighed, combing a hand through his hair. "Well, let's go, then."

The two of them flew back to FentonWorks, not turning invisible now. They phased through the front wall, directly into the living room, drawing the attention of the three people still present there.

Jazz landed in front of the couch, shifting back to her human form. Phantom kept his distance, however, and looked rather uncomfortable.

"You're half-ghost too?" Jack guessed, gesturing at the Ghost Finder that Maddie still held. "The Finder suddenly started picking up your core, like something had been muting it but stopped."

Phantom nodded, hesitantly. "I am."

Maddie was staring at him with narrowed eyes. "But you look and sound almost exactly like Danny. I can't imagine that there's anybody in Amity that looks so similar to my son."

That made Phantom shuffle even more uncertainly.

"Phantom," Danny said, still on the couch. "Just tell them, man. Shift back."

The half-ghost made a face, but did as asked. Light flashed, the ring of energy passing over him, and he thudded back onto the ground. Jazz was glad to see that Phantom had borrowed some of Danny's clothes, so he didn't look quite as ragged anymore.

Phantom grinned at Jack and Maddie, and, man. Jazz could feel the awkwardness in the atmosphere.

"Tah-dah?" he offered, opening his arms as if he were showing off an outfit.

"Jazz already did that," Danny commented from behind her, and she kicked him in the shin. "Ow, Jazz, jeez. Just trying to lighten the mood."

Jack made a noise that not even Jazz could decipher, then said, "So. Complicated, huh?"

"I am so tired of that word," Danny muttered, and Jazz kicked him again. "Ah! Are you taking lessons from Sam or something?!"

Phantom snorted, then immediately straightened out, having drawn everyone's attention back to him.

Jazz waited for him to speak up, but after a few moments of silence, cleared her throat. "So… You want to explain your complicated situation, Phantom?"

"I, uh. Yeah. Right." He shuffled his feet, looking wildly uncomfortable. Seriously, it was a little weird, but it couldn't be _that_ much worse than when he told his secret to his own parents, right?

Unless… he had never told his secret to his own parents?

But that would be crazy, right?

"So, I'm, um." Phantom ran a hand through his hair, running it all the way over his head until it ended up in his neck. "I'm… Danny Fenton. From another universe."

"Apparently he's the younger sibling and half-ghost," Danny added when Phantom stopped talking. "He had photos with himself and his own Jazz, and she was like, eighteen."

"But how did he—" Maddie paused, turned back to Phantom. "How did you get here?"

Phantom shrugged, uncomfortable now that the attention was on him again. "I, um. Natural portals form in the Ghost Zone all the time, but they don't just connect to the regular human world. They can go to any place and any time on Earth, and, apparently, to different universes as well. I accidentally flew through one and… I thought I was back in Amity, so I didn't try to go back."

"And portals are too finicky to reliably travel back through," Jack realized, snapping his fingers. "That's why you stuck around! But I don't understand… Wasn't your home… don't you miss it? Wouldn't you want to go back?"

"Of _course_ I want to go back!" Phantom snapped, suddenly, his eyes flaring green. "I want nothing _more_ than to go home! But there's no point in risking life and limb by diving through portal after portal, hoping to find it! If I just stay in one place, _they_ will find _me_! I just…" The green faded away, his voice petering off into near-silence. "I just have to wait. They'll come."

"Because Sam and Tucker and your Jazz are looking, right?" Jazz asked, softly. "What about your parents? Wouldn't they go looking for you?"

"I…" Phantom jerked his head. "Of course they'll be looking for me! Just not—"

"They don't know," Danny said. "You never told them your secret. That's why you were so hesitant to tell me what was going on, and why you're acting weird now. You're helping Jazz tell _her_ parents, when you never told _yours_."

Phantom made a face but nodded.

"But you. You've had your ghost powers for two and a half years!" It felt like her core had frozen in her chest. How had he gone so long without telling his parents? Had they held off on changing their minds for so long? Or…

Or was he genuinely scared that they might hurt him? That they would hate him for being half-ghost?

"Yeah, well." Phantom shrugged, weakly. "My only comparison is the guy who's gone twenty-two years without telling anyone about his powers, so."

"We both know he's a terrible example in every way," Jazz scolded. "Seriously, Phantom… Danny. You could've told me. You didn't have to come."

"It's… fine." He looked up again, eyes wandering to Jack and Maddie. "I… I probably should've told mine ages ago. I'm glad you didn't… didn't."

She huffed out a breath, scrambling over the couch to get closer to him. "That's what you're doing the whole time, isn't it? You're not just telling me what I'm dealing with, but you're specifically aiming to have me avoid making the same mistakes you made."

Jazz wrapped her arms around him, and, after a moment of stiffness, Phantom hugged her back. "Wouldn't you?" he asked her, head pressed in her hair. "If you saw your sibling, so young and innocent, before they had made any of your mistakes. Wouldn't you stop them, too?"

"You never said anything," she told his shoulder. "I had no idea how bad it was, Danny. You should've told me! You're not alone, not here."

"I'm never alone." He sniffled, but she didn't comment. "I have Sam, and Tucker. And my own Jazz. I have Wulf, sometimes when I can find him, and Frostbite. Clockwork, even, if it's really important."

A warm bulk reached over Jazz to clap Phantom on his shoulder. She wrenched an eye upwards, meeting her dad's eye. "Danny, kiddo. I don't know your parents, but I can tell you with absolute certainty that family is the most important to us Fentons." The other hand landed on Jazz' shoulder. "Part ghost or not. My kids are my kids, and I love them with all my heart."

"I… I know," Phantom murmured back, keeping his head turned down. "But it's just… hard. To hear them speak so badly of ghosts, of _Phantom_, and know. Know that that's _me_ they're talking about. Even if I know, rationally, that they wouldn't feel that way if they knew it was me."

"Is that why you never told us, Jazz?" Maddie asked, laying a warm hand on Jazz' other shoulder. "Because you were so scared?"

She shrugged, only a little so she wouldn't throw off the comforting hands. "I… No, of course not! I wanted— wanted you two to change your opinions on ghosts, first, because it would be easier! Not because I was…" It felt like her throat was clogged up. She sniffled. "Yeah… Yeah, a little bit, I think. I just didn't want to…"

"You didn't want to admit that that was why," Phantom finished for her. She couldn't see his expression from where she was pressed against him, but he sounded like he was tearing up. "So you reasoned around it. Because you couldn't be scared of your parents, not really! They didn't mean it like that! But you were. Scared, that is."

"Oh, honey," her mom said, and suddenly another warm body pressed against her. Maddie's arms wrapped around her, and by extension, around Phantom. "Oh, I'm so sorry that we made you feel that way. That you felt like you couldn't tell us even _some _of this, that we were so set in our ways that you had to hide all of that. And that…"

Maddie's hair brushed against Jazz' cheek, as Maddie turned to look at Phantom. "And that it was so bad that, if we hadn't figured it out ourselves, we wouldn't have known for another two years, at least. That you would've been forced to hide yourself—yourselves—from us for so long."

Then, suddenly, their hug collapsed. Jazz teetered for a moment, before she was drawn against her mom. She blinked in surprise, then realized what had happened.

Phantom stood several steps away. He must've turned himself intangible to escape from the hug.

"I'm glad you're all talking this out okay," he said, his posture stiff but his voice wavering. "But I… I'd better get going. This isn't… my place." He nodded at Danny, who uncertainly stood in front of the couch. "I. Yeah. Later."

"Wait, Phantom!" Jazz shrugged off her mom's arm, stepping closer to Phantom again. "Will you… Are we still meeting for training? Maybe not tomorrow, but… next week?"

He hesitated, visibly, before nodding. "Yeah, I… of course. I'll…" He grinned, clearly fake. "I'll check your homework then, alright?"

"Yeah, sure." She wanted to stop him, wanted to help him, make him feel better, but… her own parents came first. He understood that, right? He would've done the same, had their roles been reversed.

Still, her core wavered in her chest, upset, and her heart felt like a clump of ice.

"I'm sorry we upset him," Maddie said, tugging on Jazz' arm again. "We didn't mean to, Jazz. Upset either of you."

"I know." She wiped a hand over her eyes, shocked to find them wet. "I always knew that you cared, Mom, Dad. That my fear wasn't… wasn't rational. And Phantom is… He's been upset for a long time, I think."

"He misses his home," Danny added, finally speaking up again. "When I talked to him with Sam and Tucker, he could barely look at them. He's been here for months, waiting for them to find him."

Jack's arm wrapped around her shoulders again. "He's worried that they might never find him," he concluded. "That he'll be forced to stay in world where he can't see any of his loved ones ever again. That sounds like a Fenton's worst nightmare."

"Yeah," Jazz agreed, leaning back against her dad's massive bulk. "I can't imagine… And his parents don't even know… Can't imagine why he disappeared like that."

"At least we'll know." Maddie's arm snaked around Jazz' shoulders too, joining Jack's. "If you ever disappear… God. It could've happened to us." Her eyes were watering, too. "It's been months since Specter's first appearance, and we only discovered by coincidence. We could've… It could've been _years_ before we changed our minds enough for you to tell us on your own."

"If ever," Jack mumbled, grimly. "If we ever got evidence convincing enough to break us from years of bias."

Jazz just pressed closer. She wasn't sure if her parents ever would've changed enough for her to feel confident about telling them, no matter what she said.

Somewhere, she was glad that they had found out on their own. She might've put it off forever, otherwise.

* * *

"Jazz," Phantom said, grinning at her when she touched down in their clearing. "It's been a while. How have things been?"

"They're…" Rough. Her parents are struggling, it's a lot to wrap their minds around. They're trying but it's _hard_. "Fine. Things have been fine."

He nodded, already turning around. "Good. I'm… glad to hear so."

Ah, so they were not going to talk about the other thing. Well. She supposed she could give him that much, at least.

"Weren't you going to check my homework?" she asked, lightly.

Phantom paused. Turned back around. "Did you do it, then?"

"It was homework, Phantom. What do you think?"

His lips quirked up in a smile. It felt genuine, this time. "Should've figured. The trick to training you was homework all along."

"I thought it was fine before now, too." She shook her head, but smiled. "Anyway, you wanted me to test for elements I felt connected to. Now what?"

"Uh uh uh," Phantom said, waving a finger. "First you have to give me your homework. So, tell me. Any elements you felt positive—or negative—about?"

"Well, I dunno. I didn't feel a very strong connection to anything, to be honest," she admitted, ignoring the way her core clenched. It wasn't a personal failure, she was sure of that, but it still _felt_ that way. "But… I think electricity was… okay? Better than the other stuff?"

He nodded, and she felt her core relax a little. "You haven't been exposed to a lot of elemental ectoplasmic attacks, so your core might've prioritized learning neutral abilities over elements. Electricity makes sense, though. It was my first one, too, and it's useful for a variety of purposes."

Good. She liked the sound of that. "Okay, so, again. Now what?"

"We need to nudge your core into developing affinity for that element." Phantom paused, then made a face at her. "This is going to sound really bad, but we'll need to expose you to the element in question to do that."

"What, like… like electrocuting me?"

"Not that rough, but…" He shrugged. "Kinda, yeah. Low voltage, closer to a static charge than something that would really hurt you."

She grimaced. "Then why didn't I develop an affinity for electricity sooner? I get static shocks constantly!"

"Needs to be ectoplasmic electricity," Phantom explained with another shrug. "I got hit by Plasmius' electric attacks all the time, and some other ghosts used them too. Technus, for example, or Walker's right-hand man."

He waved her over and, reluctantly, she joined him. "I'll tell you right now, I don't like this."

"We can… not do it, you know?" Phantom laid his hands on her shoulders, lowering his head so he could meet her gaze. "Seriously, Jazz, it's no big deal. You don't _need_ elemental attacks. If you don't want to do this, you don't have to. I'm not gonna force you into anything."

She sighed, wrapping one of her hands around Phantom's. "I know, Phantom. It's… Well, not fine, but it's okay. I'd rather do this with someone I trust than get shocked by an enemy until I develop this power."

Phantom remained silent for a moment, before asking, quietly, "You trust me?"

"Oh, Danny." She pressed her head against his shoulder, wrapping her free arm around his shoulders. "Even if you're not _my_ brother, you're still my family. You've been taking care of me for months, protecting me and making sure I would be fine even when you left. Of _course_ I trust you."

He drew his arms in closer, until they were wrapped around her neck instead of settled on her shoulder. Buried his head in her hair again. "If," he said quietly. "_If_ I ever leave."

"Don't say that," she chastised, awkwardly patting him on the back. "Of course they'll find you, and bring you back to your universe, and everything will be fine! You can tell your parents and they'll accept you, too, and you'll be okay. Maybe… Maybe the time is weird! That's a thing, right, with the portals? Maybe your universe is just going way slower than mine, and your friends are looking for you, but it just hasn't been _that_ long yet!"

"Heh." Phantom's breath whistled through her hair, mussing it up. "You know… I hadn't even considered that option yet."

"Well, that's what you have me for, right?" She turned her head to grin up at him. "I'm the smart sibling, after all."

He barked out a surprised laugh, drawing away from her a little. "Yeah, I guess you are. Now come on, smarty-pants, you're not getting out of training that easy."

Phantom moved a full step back, until the only contact they had left were their linked hands. Then he lifted his free hand, offering it back to her.

Jazz bit her lip, then took the hand. "We're making a loop? For the current to run through?"

"Yeah," he confirmed, tightening his grip comfortingly. "Tell me if this feels weird, okay?"

"Okay." A tingling feeling started running down her arms, buzzing, hot and cold simultaneously. It danced through her veins, down her arms and into her chest and, oh. Her core whirred, like it was soaking up the energy. "Is it… My core is absorbing it, I think? Is that… bad?"

"It's fine," Phantom assured her. "That's confirmation of an elemental affinity, by the way. Your core is accepting it, and processing it. We'll keep to this level of power, give it the time to figure it out."

She nodded, trying to focus on the energy running through her. On her core, soaking up all the power that Phantom was offering it.

"Say," Phantom said, after a long moment of silence, "have you ever thought about getting a logo of your own?"

"A… logo?" She quirked a brow at him. "What, for my jumpsuit? Like yours?"

"Yeah!" He nodded towards his chest, like she could've missed the vivid white logo. "It's kind of a superhero staple, you know."

Jazz snorted. "No thanks."

"Why not?" he prodded, shaking their arms. "We've got a while, anyway. Might as well talk through it, right?"

"If you insist. First of all, it's tacky. Just not my sort of thing. And second of all…" She kicked him in the foot, gently. "I'm not a _hero_, Danny, just trying to help."

"Looks like a hero from where I'm standing." He jumped when she tried kicking him again, legs merging into a whispy tail. "From where I'm floating," he corrected, childishly.

Jazz rolled her eyes. Secretly, she was glad to see him bantering, though. Even if it _was_ just a cover for his homesickness… it served a distraction, at least. "Who's the older sibling here?"

"Technically neither of us is," he pointed out. "Even if I'm older than you, I spent almost my whole life being the annoying younger brother."

"You make a good older brother, though." She stiffened slightly as she realized she said that out loud. Ah, no, too sappy! "You're a lot like Dad."

Phantom raised a questioning eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"Yeah! You're protective, you value your family—both blood and from friendship—above everything else," she grinned, a little impishly, "you're very interested in ghosts and ghost hunting…"

He flushed green, opening his mouth to counter, so she went for the final push.

"And you seem pretty obsessed with logos." She outright smirked at him. "Pretty sure the next step is using your face as one."

"Oh my god, Jazz, _no_." Phantom threw his head back, groaning loudly. "That's horrible. You're horrible."

"You started it," she countered, childishly jiggling their arms. "Don't start what you can't finish."

"Terrible. You're terrible." He swiveled his head back around, his green eyes sparkling. "How's your core feeling?"

She stuck out her tongue. "That was a terrible topic change and you know it." Still, that _was_ why they were meeting, she supposed. "It's feeling… full? Full-er?"

"More powerful?"

"Uh." She prodded it, mentally. "No, not really? More… zappy? More zappy than usual, kinda staticky, and more full. Kinda… heavy? But not powerful."

He nodded, a thoughtful expression on his face. "Alright. I'm cutting off the power. Let's see if we can get some electricity out of you yet."

"Sure," she said as the static down her arms stopped. She unlinked her arms, then twitched her fingers. Felt like they were having after-buzzes. "How?"

"How do all your ghost powers work?" he asked scathingly, but with no real heat. "Thought you were the smart sibling?"

"Mh." She tried to recall the static feeling. Prodded her core into replicating that. "Wait, I think…"

Gold sparked between her fingers. Brief flashes of lightning jumped from one finger to another. "Oh, look! I did it!"

"That's a pretty good start, yeah." Phantom grinned at her when she looked at him. "Good job. Your parents would be proud."

Well, there went the mood again. The electricity sparking between her fingers faded, her core making a soft hum, almost like it was sad.

"Yeah," she said, like Phantom could've possible missed the mood drop. "I… Speaking of them, though…" She trailed off, then remained silent.

"What about them?" he asked, frowning. "They didn't—"

"They didn't do anything!" she assured him, quickly. "Not like that! It's just. Everyone's been kind of obsessed with this adult music channel lately, and that's… fine, whatever, you know, but. Mom and Dad have been listening to it a lot, too, saying it relaxes them. But they wouldn't _need_ relaxing if it weren't for— for _this_!"

Phantom blew out a noisy breath, shaking his head. "Jazz… You can't blame yourself for the accident, or for your parents finding out. Yeah, maybe they're a little stressed, but… but they would probably be, anyway, even if you'd told them from the start. It's not your fault, okay?

"Besides," he added, and he was suddenly next to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "They got into something similar in my universe. Practically every adult in Amity was obsessing over that music. And that was even though my parents didn't know my secret. So it's fine, yeah?"

That… wasn't quite as comforting as Phantom had intended it, probably. She sighed. "I guess. What made them stop?"

"I, uh." He paused, drawing back. Frowned in thought. "Um. No— hold on."

"Holding on," she snipped back.

"Got it! Oh, shit, whoops." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay, so, don't freak out, but it was totally a ghost thing. And I don't know where to find those guys until they make their move, so…"

"Oh my god, Danny!" She threw out her hands. "That's the opposite of comforting! What does that even _mean_, their move?!"

He grimaced. "They might… try to kidnap every adult in the city. No, scratch that, they totally _did_ kidnap every adult in the city. Everyone who listened to their music."

"Danny!" She clenched her fists, her core whirring angrily, her glow flickering wildly. "I'm not gonna— I'm going home _right now_. And I'm not leaving until I'm sure it's taken care of!"

"Yeah, of course." Phantom nodded quickly. "Go ahead, Jazz. I'll meet you when Youngblood and Ember show up."

* * *

Jazz stood on the landing at the top of the stairs, staring down at the roiling mass of students in her house. It felt like a block of ice sat in her chest, her core angrily buzzing beneath it.

"Jazz," Valerie said, nudging her. "Come on, glaring at these guys won't make you feel any better. Can't we wait for your brother somewhere quieter?"

"No. I already looked at the ship, and they've got a ghost shield. Phantom and I can't approach until someone turns it off." Valerie quirked an eyebrow at her, and Jazz rolled her eyes. "Val, no offense, but you can't possibly do that alone. It's loaded with ghost pirates, and there are at least _two_ high-powered ghosts on there."

Valerie sighed. "That's fair, I guess. So now what?"

Jazz turned her eyes back towards their classmates, partying below them.

"Jazz, whatever you're thinking, no." Valerie nudged her. "Seriously, you can't plan to involve those guys _again_. Last time they were already in danger, and they had _ghost powers_."

"They're already involved," she pointed out. "_Their_ parents are gone, too. We just need to convince them to help us. There's enough ghost hunting gear in FentonWorks to arm all of them, and they don't need to be _good_, just good enough. If they can distract the ghosts, you can sneak by to disarm the shield."

Valerie gave her a flat look. "Why the '_we'_? If you convince them, you'll need to come with, and if you can pass through the ghost shield with them, you and Danny can do it with me, too."

"I don't know, Val. It's a lot of ghosts." She sighed. "And we _need_ to turn off the shield, or Phantom and I can't leave. If we can get more people there, it would help a ton."

"But there's no way the two of us can convince our class to help us _hunt ghosts_," Valerie pointed out harshly. "Seriously, Jazz. Be realistic. We're both uncool outcasts with a ghost problem. They're not gonna listen to us."

"Yeah, but—" A screech of static broke through the music, then stopped. The music didn't pick back up.

Jazz leaned down over the railing, and spotted Danny standing at the front of the crowd, Sam and Tucker on either side of him. Tucker was holding a PDA, a cable running from it to the speakers behind them. Of course, he must've turned off the music for them, drawing the attention to the three of them.

"Hey people!" Danny raised a hand in greeting, his voice loud enough to carry through the sudden silence. "I know you're all here to party, but I'm afraid we have a bit of a situation! As you all know, just about every adult in Amity Park got kidnapped by ghosts, including pretty much everybody's parents!"

He looked through the room meaningfully, letting it sink in for a moment, before he continued. "Now, you might all think, _so what_? Specter and Phantom will solve it, just like every other ghost problem, won't they? Or maybe that human ghost hunter on the hoverboard? Well, I'm sorry to say that it won't be that easy."

"How do you know?" someone shouted from the crowd.

"Glad you asked! I know because I _actually looked_ at the fucking ship where they're holding our folks, and guess what? It's got a ghost shield around it! So Phantom and Specter, even if they come to help, won't be able to! And, as much as I might be inclined to trust in the human hunter, she's just one person. There's a small army of weak grunt ghosts on that ship, and at least _two_ higher powered ones, one of which has previously invaded our town, and which required the teamwork of Phantom, Specter, _and_ the human hunter. Now, as much as you're enjoying this time without your parents, are you really content to rely on other people to fix this for you?"

Danny paused, eyes slowly moving over the crowd. "Do you really feel _good_, partying here, knowing that your parents are working themselves to the bone up there, forced by ghosts? Knowing that the only people that might help are two ghosts that can't actually go there, and a single human hunter? Hm?"

He shook his head, then gestured to Sam and Tucker besides him. "Now, I don't know about any of you. Obviously, since I'm older. But I _do_ know myself, and I know Sam and Tucker. And I know that none of _us_ could live with the guilt, if we spent however long having fun down here, just to discover that our parents died because Amity's protectors got outplayed. So I'll ask all of you one thing. If _your_ parents didn't survive this, could _you_ live with the knowledge that you could've helped, but didn't?"

With his speech finished, Danny stepped back again, Sam and Tucker moving in sync. He turned around, the three of them moving to the edge of the room. Behind them, noise slowly starting coming in again; murmurs of the crowd as they talked. The music stayed silent.

"Damn," Valerie whistled. "Didn't know your brother was such a good motivational speaker, Jazz."

"Yeah," she said, thinking back to Phantom. To the way he must've convinced countless enemies to help him, those times he needed backup he didn't have. Doing all the things she'd done with basically no information. "Yeah, I guess he is."

"Wow, that was almost a compliment," Danny commented, coming up the stairs. Jazz started—when had he gotten there?

"You stole my idea, though." She swatted at him. "And that's rude."

"It's better this way. Besides, I had a better shot at convincing them."

She huffed. "What, because you're such a brilliant speaker?"

"Because I'm _older_, Jazz." He rolled his eyes, an amused smile on his face. "For kids like these, older teens are automatically cooler. You two might be all the way at the bottom of the popularity ladder, but Sam, Tucker, and I are high up, just because of our age. Doesn't matter that we're not popular among our own classmates."

"Well, whatever." She shook her head. "It doesn't really matter, I guess, because I'm coming anyway."

Valerie grabbed her arm. "No you're not. Don't be crazy."

"Val, I—"

"Jazz. _You_ are not coming," Valerie repeated, shaking her arm. Jazz frowned at the weird emphasis.

"I wholeheartedly agree, Jazz," Danny said from her other side. "I don't want _you_ to come."

Jazz grumbled, slumping on the landing's railing. "You two suck."

"We also both know, huh?" Danny sighed, then leaned on the railing beside her. "Look, Jazz. Yes, I overheard your idea, and decided that I would take the lead. I'll lead the human ghost hunters in the attack on the ship, we'll turn off the shield, and then you and Phantom can come in to actually deal with the ghosts."

"Wait, hold on," Valerie cut in before Jazz could reply. "Aren't _you_ Phantom?"

Danny jerked backwards to look at Valerie over Jazz' back. Jazz also turned to shoot her an incredulous look.

"What? Why are you both looking at me like that?" Valerie frowned. "Seriously, I asked Phantom if he was Danny Fenton and he said _yes_. And Jazz, you keep saying he's your brother. What was I supposed to think?!"

"Technically, all of that is true." Danny made a face. "It's just… not the complete truth."

"One might even say that it's complicated," Jazz added, just to rile up Danny a little. "I don't know why Phantom would tell you he's Danny but not tell you the whole story, though. He is actually Danny Fenton, yes, but he's from alternate universe, and just staying until his own friends and sister find him." She reached behind her to pat Danny on the arm. "_This_ is my actual fully human brother. Hence why I call him Danny, and the other guy Phantom."

"Ah." Valerie nodded, but the crease remained. "I… see. I thought you were just, I dunno. Trying to separate the two halves with their own names, or something. So you wouldn't slip up and call him Danny while he was a ghost."

"I mean, that's almost the truth," Danny pointed out, lips quirking up into a smile. "Anyway, I should go help Sam and Tucker prep the weapons for your classmates. Jazz, you go find Phantom and come join us before we actually leave, okay? The promise of teaming up with Amity's actual protectors will help convince them."

"I'll get going too, then." Valerie pushed off of the railing, then paused, realizing what she'd said. "I mean, um. I…"

Jazz clicked her tongue. "You need practice with lying on the spot, Val. She's the Red Huntress, Danny."

"The human hunter with the hoverboard?" he guessed, then nodded at her. "Yeah, that'd be good. You can take lead, since you're probably the best fighter among the humans. I'll have Tucker go down to deactivate the shield, and Sam and I can help cover him."

"Sounds like a plan." Valerie nodded back, the tension in her shoulders ebbing a little. "Just…"

"I'll keep your secret, no worries," Danny assured her. "Unless you leak Jazz' secret and get her hurt as a result, but that's just fair turnabout."

Valerie snorted. "Yeah, I think I'd deserve whatever shit I get if that ever happens. Where are we meeting?"

"Up top." Danny raised a finger to point above them. "The Ops Center can turn into a blimp, that's what we'll use to get to the ship."

"Gotcha." Valerie nodded, once. "See you in a min, Danny, Jazz."

They watched as Valerie made her way down the stairs, sneaking through the front door unnoticed.

"I'd better get going too." Jazz pushed herself off of the railing. "See you upstairs."

"Yeah, see you in a minute." Danny turned back to head down the stairs as well, while Jazz went to her room. The moment the door closed behind her she shifted to her ghost form, invisibly phasing out through the wall.

She intercepted Phantom on his way to the house, dropping her invisibility.

"Oh, Jazz," he said, seemingly surprised. "What are you doing outside?"

"We're meeting the teen ghost hunters upstairs," she explained with a shrug. "Danny, Sam, and Tucker are leading my classmates for now, but Val is gonna show up and take lead during the actual attack. They'll probably explain the whole plan for the class in a minute, when we're all there."

He nodded. "Gotcha. To the Ops Center, then?"

"Let's."

They flew up to the Ops Center quickly, but paused right outside it. Valerie, completely suited up and standing on her hoverboard, was already there.

Whoops. Nobody told her how to get in.

"There's a door on the top," Jazz pointed out. "Sorry."

Valerie stared at Phantom for a moment longer before nodding. "Yeah, alright. See you inside."

The huntress flew over to the roof, her hoverboard retracting into the soles of her shoes so she could land. She found the hatch, opened it, and dropped through.

After a beat or two, Phantom nudged her. "Let's go."

Jazz nodded back, and they both phased through the center's metal walls.

The inside of the Ops Center was crowded, but surprisingly quiet. A hush must've fallen when Valerie had come in, and they quietened down entirely when she and Phantom came in.

Valerie hovered at the front—had apparently re-engaged her hoverboard after coming in—with Danny, Sam, and Tucker right with her. Jazz flew over there as well, Phantom right beside her.

"Wow, what a team!" Danny said, a cheeky grin on his face. "Do you see that, guys? Looks like we're gonna show those stupid ghosts what Amity Park can _really_ do!"

Phantom quirked an eyebrow at the speech, his spectral tail lashing lazily. "Do you have a plan? Specter and I would love to help, but we can't, not unless you guys take the shield down."

"As a matter of fact, we do!" Danny waved a hand, and Sam and Tucker rolled forward a whiteboard. On it were crude drawings of the ghosts' ship and the Ops Center, but nothing else was filled in yet.

"Because of the shield, us humans will be taking lead in the fight." He tapped a marker against the drawing of the Ops Center. "We're in the Emergency Ops Center now, which can turn into a blimp. We'll use that to fly us to the ship." He drew an arrow from the Center to the ship.

"Once we're there, we'll board them. The Red Huntress," he gestured over at her, "will lead our main assault. They will fight primarily against the grunts, since the ringleaders probably won't step up that soon. With their attention drawn, the three of us," he gestured at Sam, Tucker, and himself, "will split off. Tucker is our tech-master, and he can disable the ghost shield. Sam and I will cover him."

Danny erased the green circle around the ship with his thumb. "With the shield down, Specter and Phantom are free to join us. The two of them, together with the Red Huntress, will take on the leaders, who will probably come involve themselves by then. The rest of us will take out the remaining minions, then join the fight against… what were their names?"

"Ember and Youngblood," Jazz answered him.

"Right. The rest of us will join the fight against Ember and Youngblood, helping however we can without outright endangering ourselves. These three," he gestured at her, Phantom, and Valerie, "are all packing capture devices. They'll be in charge of catching the enemy ghosts. Once we're all clear, we'll take the ship down carefully. Unfortunately, as you might've noticed," he gestured around them, "the Ops Center is too small to take everyone back safely, so that's what we'll have to do. Any questions?"

He looked over the crowd of teenagers, but no one spoke up. "Good. In that case, come forward to grab weapons from me, Sam, and Tucker. Phantom, Specter, you're free to wait outside, since you won't be in here for the fight anyway. Red… feel free to grab extra weapons if you want."

"I'm good," Val muttered, her voice quiet. Probably trying not to get overheard by her classmates.

"We'll be outside, then," Phantom told Danny, then nodded at her. They phased outside, landing on a nearby rooftop.

The pirate ship hovered high above them, an unnatural green in the overcast skies. The shield around it reflected oddly in the windows around them.

"This fight is gonna be a breeze," Phantom said airily, hands behind his head.

"Yeah?" She turned to look at him, cocking her head. "You sound confident."

He snorted. "I managed without too much trouble. Now I'm more powerful, and backed up by both you and Valerie."

"And a small army of my classmates."

"And a small army of your classmates, yes," Phantom corrected with a laugh. "Seriously, Ember and Youngblood don't know what they've got coming.

Jazz watched him smile, and it felt like a knot loosened in her chest. It was good, to see Phantom smile like that. Confident, powerful, at ease.

They had this fight won before it even started, really.

* * *

One of my planning beats for this chapter was literally just "Which is a whole 'nother can of worms because _holy shit Danny_, what the fuck!" and I think that that summarizes this chapter pretty accurately. Jazz might've thought that Phantom was a shining example of a half-ghost, and all that she could be, but she's slowly discovering that he's an absolute disaster.

Also I totally skipped out on writing the confrontation with Ember and Youngblood, but the reveal scene kind of took over this chapter and I really wasn't feeling the fight scene, so... Their plan was foolproof anyway, they kicked ghost ass and saved everyone's parents, no biggie.

(ps: I also changed the summary of this fic because I realized I had my original summary written down in my planning file and just... skipped over it the whole time I've been writing this. oops)

Next week, the penultimate chapter: Chapter 15 - Reign Storm


	15. Reign Storm

Jazz walked into the kitchen and stopped dead when she saw him. Danny grinned, waving at her.

Next to him, the other Danny also grinned and waved.

"_Why_," Jazz groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Couldn't I have gotten a normal brother?"

The other Danny gasped dramatically. "A _normal_ brother? In this family?"

"Did you two plan this out?" She dropped her hand to narrow her eyes at them. Danny was pretty sure that she was trying to figure out which Danny was which. "Because this is bullying. I'm feeling very bullied right here."

"Take it up with Sidney, then." Danny, still grinning, took a bite of his sandwich. He should've had lunch sooner, but in his defense, he totally forgot. Until the actual Fenton kids were returning from school, that was. "He's the local expert on fixing bullies."

"This isn't bullying, anyway." His human counterpart rattled his fingers on the glass he held as he spoke. "This is just sibling fun."

Jazz huffed, chagrined. "Phantom, I'm glad you're here, but sometimes I wish you weren't."

"Amen." Other Danny raised his glass.

"Same," Danny agreed, raising his sandwich.

She narrowed her eyes even further, sparks of gold visible in the teal of her eyes.

Danny flashed his own eyes green, and Jazz relaxed a little. Ah. She really hadn't been able to tell them apart.

"So you two really didn't plan this out?" She finally entered the kitchen proper, pausing next to the table where they both were.

"Just a coincidence," Danny assured her.

Other Danny nodded, then gestured over at him. "This one forgot to eat lunch until he saw me come home."

"My day-night rhythm is in shambles." Danny shrugged, taking another bite of his food. Just because this dimension's Fentons insisted he come stay with them didn't mean it fixed everything automatically. "It already was before I came here, though."

"Yeah, you've mentioned that before." Jazz hummed, thoughtfully. "Something about being practically nocturnal."

"You wouldn't believe how many ghosts attack at night." Danny clicked his tongue, chastising. "You're gonna have your hands full when I leave."

_If_ he ever left.

"And _you_ will have to get used to being the little brother again," she jibed, equally willing to ignore the possibility that he might never leave. "Did you two leave me any food?"

Danny stuffed the last bite of sandwich into his mouth. Other Danny grinned and said, "Nah, unless you want the Frankenwienies."

"You two are the worst."

He opened his mouth to joke back, but felt his core stir in his chest. Far, far stronger than usual; more of a heave than a whir.

Based on Jazz' startled expression, she felt it too.

Blue vapor misted from both their mouths, and Danny quickly sorted through his memories. What could possibly…

Oh no.

He threw out his arms as he shifted into his ghost form, a green shield forming around the three of them before the light had even faded away. The other two made noises of protest, but fell silent when the first ghosts started zipping past them.

No one said anything when the few ghosts made way for a whole stream of them. Humanoid, animals, every type of ghost flew past them, including familiar faces. One or two even bashed against the shield as they flew past, but were clearly unwilling to stick around to try and get at Jazz.

Good. At least she wouldn't have to suffer through that gang-up like he had.

"What's going on?" Jazz asked. Her hands were shaking, but Danny wasn't sure if it was fear or just jitters from her core. "Why are all these ghosts here?"

"They're fleeing the Ghost Zone." He kept the shield steady, even as the flow lessened. "The Ghost King is awake."

"The _what_?" Other Danny was staring at him, wide-eyed. "Ghosts have a _king_?!"

"Sort of. He's been asleep for ages, locked in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep." Finally, the stream of ghosts seemed to stop, and Danny let down his shield. He didn't shift back. "He is… extremely powerful, and a harsh king. The other ghosts are afraid of him, so they're fleeing to the human world, where they don't have to deal with him. Or so they think."

"I _really_ don't like the sound of that," Jazz grumbled. Her shivers had lessened already. Probably just the shock of her ghost sense, then. "Is he gonna come here?"

Danny grimaced. "Not… necessarily. He doesn't care about the human world."

"But?" Jazz prodded. "Come on, I can tell you're leaving details out."

"_But_," he repeated, before sighing. "He'll be after one of his relics, which increases a ghost's power. It's called the Ring of Rage."

"How did he get out, anyway?" his human counterpart asked. "If he was locked up for so long. Did someone free him?"

"_Vlad_, of course, who else?" Danny sighed, running a hand through his hair. He really wasn't looking forward to doing this all again. Last time it had nearly killed him. Yes, he was stronger now, he'd probably be okay, but still. "And he knows Pariah is after the Ring, so he's gonna bring it here and pass it off to some unsuspecting target, like his pet ghost hunter."

Jazz' eyes grew wide. "_Valerie_. She's in danger!"

"Not until Vlad leaves and gives her the ring," he dismissed. Paused. Cast out his ghost sense to try and track down Vlad's minimal presence in human form. "Uh. Is Vlad still here?"

Jazz hurried back to the doorway. "Valerie is gone too!"

"Well, crap." Oh, and he didn't know where those two had gone, either… but he _did_ know where the first big showdown was happening. "Come on, we'd better get going. Pariah is gonna send an army of ghosts here, and I know where he's gonna open the portal."

She nodded, immediately shifting into her own ghost form. No hesitation. "Let's go."

"Stay safe," human Danny demanded. "Both of you. Stay safe, please?"

Danny nodded back. "I'll make sure of it." He stepped forward, paused. "And, um. In case Vlad is back before us… he may or may not believe we are the same person."

"Phantom," other Danny sighed, loudly, exasperatedly. "_Again_?"

He shrugged, putting on an innocent face. "What? It's just the logical conclusion here! Anyway we'd better get going, bye!"

Jazz followed him up. "Did you really have to do that?"

"No, but this way he'll have something besides us to worry about." He leveled out, slowing down a notch so Jazz could keep up. "We'll be fine."

He would make sure of that.

* * *

The fight was a mess, chaotic to no end. Danny lost track of Jazz quickly, darting between Pariah's skeletal minions. He would just have to trust that she could take care of herself. Vlad and Valerie also disappeared into the mass. It was just him, and the ghosts directly around him.

He caught a flash of green, his eye immediately drawn towards it. The Fright Knight, the ghost's first appearance in this world. Or, more accurately, the flash of green of his swinging sword.

"Don't get hit by it!" he yelled at Valerie, already rushing towards her.

"Thought that that was kinda obvious!" She dodged the next swing, the green metal carving a deep slice in her hoverboard. "Hey, jerk! Do you know how expensive this tech is?!"

"It is worthless in comparison to the ring," Fright Knight snarled back. He lunged towards her.

Danny grabbed the ghost by the armor, bodily dragging him away from Valerie. "That's enough outta you, pal."

"The ring?" Valerie repeated, blankly. "They want a ring?"

Fright Knight swung his sword down at Danny, and he rushed to form a shield to catch it. "Yeah, they're after Pariah's Ring of Rage."

"Oh," Valerie said. Danny heard the click of a weapon assembling. "Well, I'll take care of that, then."

"Wait, what are you—" The weapon fired, and he twisted around to look. God _dammit_, Valerie, launching the thing on a missile doesn't help!

The pressure against his shield disappeared, and a quick glance back confirmed that the Fright Knight had summoned his mount and was going after the missile. Danny needed to get there first, but he couldn't be _seen_ taking it.

It had been months since he last used this power, but… He split apart, meeting the bright green eyes of his duplicate.

"You know what to do," he said to it, and it nodded back. It shimmered, disappearing from sight, but Danny could still feel it as it raced after Fright Knight. He would just have to hope that all that speed training would pay off.

"Damn, Phantom." Valerie whistled, impressed. "I didn't know you could do that."

He blasted one of the skeletons away from her, cursing the distraction of his duplicate. This was not an ideal situation for this. "I don't use them, usually. Splits my attention."

"Gotcha." She cocked her gun, turning her attention back to the fight as well. "Now what?"

"My duplicate is gonna grab the ring, make sure that Fright Knight loses track of it." An ice-ray stopped a large swatch of ghosts that were coming in their direction. "Shooting it on a missile is a short-term solution, and we do _not_ want them to actually get their hands on the Ring."

His duplicate had caught up with the missile, snatching the Ring before Fright Knight could notice. Danny instructed it to flee, to hide the thing in a place where Fright Knight wouldn't be able to detect it.

"Wow, I _heard_ the capitalization on that." Valerie snorted, blasted a few more skeletons apart. "Why is it so important?"

"It greatly increases the power of a ghost wearing it." He swept a disc of ectoplasm at some of the ghostly skeletons, watching the explosion scatter them. His duplicate had made it back to FentonWorks unnoticed, stuffing the Ring into a Thermos. Clever. With its job finished, it dissipated. "Pariah wants it because it'll make him the strongest ghost in the Ghost Zone."

He could see her mask crinkle as she made a face. "And how bad is that?"

"Well, I had to use a suit that increased by power hundred-fold just to match him, so…" He could see her fretting, now. "Don't worry, my duplicate snatched it and hid the Ring. They won't find it."

"Good." The ghosts around them stalled, all of a sudden, and she drew closer to him, warily. "I don't get it. Why did my weapons supplier have that thing?"

"Long story." Danny angled his head upwards, saw the Fright Knight coming down again. Had he given up the search so quickly?

"You know my weapons supplier?" Valerie asked, skeptically. She had caught sight of Fright Knight as well. "Oh, there's that guy again."

The Fright Knight dismounted, the clanking of his armored boots loud in the sudden silence. Over the still skeletons, Danny finally caught sight of Jazz and Vlad; they were on opposite ends of the field, both having apparently decided to move to the edges of the fight instead of staying in the center like him and Valerie.

"By the authority vested in me by my Lord and Liege," Fright Knight started, raising his sword. Green flames engulfed it suddenly. Danny felt his heart clench, but there was no stopping it.

"I claim this town now and forever under the weather of Lord Pariah, King of All Ghosts!" And Fright Knight drove the sword down, sinking it into the ground. A wave of ectoplasm emanated from it, a secondary beam shooting straight up.

"Stay back, and stay calm," Danny told Valerie, not taking his eyes off of Fright Knight. "He's not going to attack."

She nodded, but the tense line of her shoulders told him she wasn't happy with it.

The beam of ectoplasm spread out, forming a dome around their whole city. Jazz shot over the motionless ghosts, joining up with him and Valerie. "What's he doing?"

"Right now? Upping the amount of ectoplasm we have in our air." Danny let his eyes wander back to Vlad, but the man made no attempt to join up with them. "And he's not gonna do anything else, either, except give us his demands."

Fright Knight turned to look towards them. Danny stepped forward as well, Valerie and Jazz staying behind.

The ghost angled his head, but took the hint—Danny was the leader. "The sword has sunk, your die now cast. The sword removed shall signal fast. Make reappear," he gestured at their group, "the ring thou hast. Or your next day shall be your last."

And without another word, he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"That sounded… dramatic." Valerie was clearly eyeing up the skeletons. "What about those?"

"They're not gonna do anything for now," Danny dismissed. "Pariah wants us to hand over the ring, he's not gonna attack us until his terms run out."

"Where _is_ the Ring, anyway?" Jazz frowned at the skeletons, but turned to face him for his answer. "Why did they stop looking for it?"

"We hid it." He shot a meaningful look at the skeletons below, and Jazz nodded in understanding. "You head back home, I'll catch up with you in a minute."

She nodded again, golden eyes darting between him and Valerie. "Gotcha. I'll meet you there."

"What was that about?" Valerie asked, skeptically, as Jazz left them. "Why not just tell her?"

"I didn't want to risk the skeletons being able to listen in." He shrugged, casting out his ghost sense. Vlad had also left, at some point. "And I wanted to talk to you about your weapons supplier, Vlad."

"What about him?" Her posture was stiff, tense.

Danny rolled his eyes. "You don't think that it's weird that _the_ Vlad Masters gave this kind of weaponry to a _fourteen-year old_? That he gave a powerful ghost artifact to you, knowing what—or who—was after it?"

"Ugh." She sighed, shoulders slumping down. "Yeah, I've been thinking about it for a while. You gonna tell me he's evil, now?"

"And also a half-ghost." He grinned at her incredulous look. "That vampire-looking guy that was here with us? Vlad Plasmius, half-ghost. He's been half-ghost for two decades, but he's not as powerful as me, and Jazz will outpace him as well, when her core matures."

She hummed. "And he's no good?"

"And he's no good," Danny confirmed. "Told me—and Jazz, in this universe—to our face that he wanted to kill our dad and marry our mom. Most ghosts aren't obsession-driven like people think, but Vlad? Absolutely."

"Yikes." She shook her head. "Now I'm gonna think of that every time I see my weapons. Big creep who refuses to deal with his own shit, got it. Anything else I gotta know?"

"Maybe get your gear checked out. I don't trust him as far as I can throw him." He frowned, one finger tapping on his cheek. "I know that your identity is a big deal, and I respect that, but the Fentons are probably your best bet. Well, after this."

"Thanks for the head's-up, anyway." She turned her head, presumably to look at the dome above them. "Now what?"

"I'm gonna head back towards FentonWorks. You're welcome to come along. Would probably comfort your dad, too, to know that you're in the safest place in Amity Park."

She nodded, shifting to follow him. "What kind of world do we live in where _FentonWorks_ is the safest place in Amity?"

That startled a laugh out of him as they set off.

* * *

Danny stretched, hovering over one of the cluttered lab tables. His parents—or their counterparts from this universe—were hard at work on the Ecto-Skeleton, Vlad standing nearby. Not helping of course, God forbid. Just watching.

He was keeping an eye on Danny, but that was okay. Danny was keeping an eye on Vlad as well.

Once or twice, the man tried sneaking closer to him. Tried talking to him without anyone noticing. It hadn't been very successful, not with Jack and Maddie in the lab. And hadn't _that_ been a surprise to Vlad? Finding Danny in his ghost form in the lab, his parents perfectly fine with that?

Jack sighed, interrupting Danny's thoughts. "Let's take a break, folks. Get some lunch."

"I think I'll keep working," Vlad said, eyes on Danny the whole time. "I'm not hungry."

Maddie threw him a skeptical look. "If you're sure, Vlad. What about you, sweetie?"

Oh, he was so glad that his parents were playing along. Not using his name meant that Vlad had no idea of their knowledge.

"I'm good, thanks." He flapped a hand. "You guys go get lunch, and Vlad and I will keep working."

She narrowed her eyes at him, but nodded. With Jack right behind her, she left the lab.

"They know, don't they?" Vlad turned back to him, meeting his eyes. "That's why they are so nice to you. They're afraid of giving away your secret to me."

Well, no point in denying. He shrugged at Vlad. "They were already nice _before_ they figured it out."

"I find that hard to believe," Vlad sneered. "But here you are, spending ages in your ghost form. Why not shift back?"

"Why would I? It's not like my ghost form is hurting me." He drifted closer to the suit, until he was above clear space again. "Or do _you_ dislike it, Vladdie?"

"Don't call me that," Vlad hissed back, his eyes flaring red for a brief moment. Ooh, temper, Vlad. "It doesn't matter, anyhow. The invasion will get worse when no one finds the ring they want."

Danny rolled his eyes. "Yes, because you're not at fault for any of this, are you? Come on, man."

"I don't have the ring, if that's what you are suggesting."

"Yeah, because you gave it away to the Red Huntress." He sighed, twisting until he was in a standing position, matching Vlad's eye level. "Come on, I know exactly what's going on. Just tell me why you thought it was a good idea to release a ghost of Pariah's caliber, just to snatch a powerful artifact."

Vlad flinched back, eyes narrowed. "How do _you_ know about any of this?"

"Because people think I'm stupid when I'm not." He grinned at Vlad, cocky. "What are you gonna do about it, Vladdie? Gonna tell my secret to my parents? Or, wait, what if they know already?"

"You little—" Vlad's eyes flared red again, almost immediately followed by the dark-light rings that signaled his transformation. The other half-ghost didn't wait a moment, lunging instantly.

Danny formed a shield, pushing Vlad away from the battle suit. "What are you _really_ trying to achieve, man? You lost the Ring, you have no chance of getting the Crown, not while Pariah has it. Now what?"

"The suit will have to do," Vlad hissed back, hands clenching. "But for now, I'm willing to settle for introducing your face to the floor."

A bolt of green ectoplasm whistled past Vlad's ear. Danny followed it back to its origin, finding the entire Fenton family at the bottom of the stairs.

"You talk too much," Maddie said, almost complaintively. The glint in her eyes was angry.

"What?" Vlad's eye clearly caught on Danny Fenton standing with his family. Vlad turned back towards him. "What's…"

"You've been outplayed, Vladdie." Danny shot an ice beam, freezing the older half-ghost to the wall. "Sorry, pal, but they heard everything."

Pink flames formed around Vlad's fists, and he started wriggling out of the ice. "No! I will not—"

"We know everything, Vlad." Jack stepped forward, a disappointed frown on his face. "We're sorry for the accident in college, for hurting you. But it's not _our_ fault that we weren't allowed to visit you. It's not our fault that _you_ broke contact."

"Being angry with us is one thing," Maddie chimed in. "But attacking our children over it? Wanting to _kill_ one of us? That's too much, Vlad. You cannot honestly think that that's _okay_."

Vlad snarled, the ice around him cracking. "Oh, _please_. Like you know anything!"

"They know more than you do." Jazz quirked an unimpressed eyebrow at Vlad. "They know _everything_, Vlad."

"But we also believe in second chances." Jack curled an arm around Maddie, keeping his eyes on Vlad. "We need to finish the Ecto-Skeleton, and we'll need to fight that big ghost afterwards. Are you with us, or not?"

The ice cracked, Vlad almost completely free. "And what will you do if I refuse to fight with you?" he hissed, aura flaring bright. "Will you—"

The blue vortex of a Thermos interrupted him, wrapping him up entirely. Danny Fenton grinned, a close match to Danny's own cocky grin. Other Danny capped the Thermos. "Now what?"

"We'll have to discuss it later." Maddie took the Thermos, carefully placing it aside. "For now, he can wait in there." She sighed, clicked her tongue. "I can't believe that man."

"Thanks for telling us, Phantom." Jack heaved a sigh. "And for helping us catch him."

"Hopefully he'll be more receptive to a stern talking-to than mine." Danny floated closer towards them. "How's progress on the battle suit?"

Maddie sighed, taking one last glance at the Thermos before turning to the suit. "It's almost finished. If you two had any allies to gather, this might be a good moment for it."

"Gotcha." He nodded, and Jazz stepped up next to him. "Jazz, can you handle Sidney and Valerie? I'll go get the others."

"We have other allies?" she asked, one eyebrow raised skeptically. "But, sure."

Light flashed as she shifted to her ghost form, drifting up. "I'll be right back, then."

"I might be a bit longer," he admitted, both to her and to her parents. "I have some actual tracking down to do."

Jazz nodded, flying off, and Danny quickly did the same. Some of these ghosts, he could find; he knew where they had been in his own universe. But others…

Well, he'd try his best, at least.

* * *

Jazz sighed, impatiently, watching over the people gathered in the lab. Both Sidney and Valerie had been reluctant to mingle, but had eventually caved to her insistence. Now Sidney was hovering next to Danny, Sam, and Tucker, talking about… modern schooling? And bullying? Hm. Well, at least they were getting along?

Valerie, on the other hand, had cornered Jack and Maddie, and was discussing ghost weaponry and gadgets.

Finally, though, Jazz' ghost sense went off. She thought she could recognize Phantom's signature, but she wasn't sure… and it was far too strong.

But no, there he was. Phantom phased through the ceiling, followed by the allies he'd gathered. She counted… seven ghosts. _Seven_?! What the—

Phantom, floating above the rest of them, grinned. Threw his arms wide to gesture at the ghosts floating behind him. "Sorry it took a bit! Had to track down and convince all of these guys."

Jazz went through the crowd, mentally. On the far left was a ghost she didn't recognize; metal, humanoid, with green eyes and a matching flame mohawk. Next to him was Ember, followed by the Box Ghost, Lunch Lady, and then Desiree, and Dora on the furthest end, her amulet glowing brightly.

Another ghost she didn't recognize floated up closer to Phantom. Big and bulky, a humanoid body-shape but with a wolf-like face, paws, and even a tail. The entire ghost was covered in thick black fur, and it had some dangerous looking claws on its front paws.

"Most of these are familiar faces, but I'll introduce everyone anyway." Phantom gestured at the ghost on the far left. "This is Skulker, Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. Then there's Ember, grand musician. The Box Ghost, self-explanatory. Lunch Lady, a killer cook. Desiree, wish-granter, and finally Dora, princess of Aragon." He patted the ghost next to him on the arm. "And finally, this is Wulf! He only speaks a little English, mostly Esperanto."

"You speak Esperanto?" Tucker asked, elbowing Danny. "Since when?"

"Since I befriended Wulf and realized I had no way of communicating," Phantom retorted, rolling his eyes. "You folks wanna do an introductory round as well, or what?"

Jazz rolled her eyes, stepping forward. "I'm Specter, half-ghost. That's Sidney, full ghost," she pointed at him, and he raised a hand, clearly shy. "Next to him on the left is Danny, my brother. On Danny's left is Sam, and furthest right is Tucker. They're taking care of flight and small guns."

She gestured at Valerie, who had stepped away from the adults. "That's the Red Huntress, some of you might be familiar with her. She's one of the local ghost hunters; she'll be main fighter among the humans. Next to her are Jack and Maddie, my parents. They're also ghost hunters, and they'll be taking the big guns. Any questions?"

"Yeah, I got one." Ember's eyes narrowed, her hair flickering like a flame. "Why do the humans have specific roles when we don't?"

"Uh." Jazz made a face. "Honestly, we had no clue who Phantom was bringing. Also, you all know your skills best. The humans, we had to equip, but you guys can all work alone."

Ember hummed, apparently satisfied with that.

Skulker, meanwhile, seemed to be suspiciously looking between Phantom and Danny. When Phantom noticed, however, he grinned widely at Skulker—all teeth and no humor. That was enough to throw the ghost off, who promptly pretended he hadn't been doing that.

There was a story there, and Jazz wished that they had the time to go into it.

Something sniffed next to her, and she started. Jerked around to see Wulf next to her—and how had she missed a ghost of his size moving?

"Amika," the ghost greeted her, before continuing in Esperanto.

"He's pleased to make your acquaintance!" Tucker yelled, hurrying closer so he could help translating.

"Oh, uh." She offered her hand to him. "Nice to meet you, too. Are you…" She ran over possible situations in her head. "Are you the ghost Phantom rescued in the Ghost Zone?"

Tucker spoke, presumably translating it. Wulf nodded, immediately.

"Apparently they are close friends back home, and…" Tucker paused, quietly talking back and forth with Wulf. "I guess Phantom asked Wulf to keep an eye on you, when he goes home?"

She blinked up at the large ghost and his bright green hoodie. Wulf's tail wagged, slowly, hesitantly.

"I'm going to have to look up a course in Esperanto, then," she said, grinning slowly.

They were unfortunately forced to end the conversation there, as Phantom cleared his throat. He was now standing on top of the finished Ecto-Skeleton.

With everyone's attention drawn, Phantom spoke up. "So, everyone knows the plan?"

A general murmur of acknowledgment sounded.

"Good! Let's get ready to go, then!" He underlined the statement by uncapping a Thermos; Jazz stiffened, expecting it to be Vlad's, but no ghost came out. Instead Phantom shook out… a ring.

Or, no. _The_ Ring, based on the gasps of all the other ghosts.

Phantom stuck it onto his finger, frowning down at it. Then, with a shrug, he phased into the Ecto-Skeleton, activating it.

"Is that safe?" Jazz asked, although she wasn't sure _who_ she was asking. Phantom must've heard her, though, because he shrugged—and the suit shrugged along.

"Safe enough," he said dismissively. "The suit alone is too draining. It almost killed me in my own timeline, and I'm not risking that again."

Phantom's off-hand mention of his origin was… baffling. It also startled every ghost in the room except for Wulf. Well, now they were in for a quite talk, weren't they?

But Phantom must've realized, because he grinned at the slew of ghosts. "How about this, folks. We take down Pariah, and then I'll tell you guys all about it! And no one will be able to claim a role as Pariah's Bane, because I'm not a local. Yeah?"

"Dipstick, you're something else." Ember shook her head, clicked her tongue, then nodded. "What are we waiting for, folks? Let's go!"

The other ghosts cheered—or something close it, anyhow—all raising their fists. Phantom led them into the Ghost Zone, and Jazz only belatedly remembered that she was supposed to stay close to him. Quickly, she darted through the Portal as well.

Inside, the Ghost Zone was… vast. An enormous expanse of black, swirled through with green. It felt lighter than Earth. Not necessarily in a gravity way, but more… It was hard to explain.

"First time in the Zone, right?" Phantom asked, suddenly next to her. He grinned understandingly. "There's more ambient ectoplasm, so you're probably feeling that. I would offer to show you around, when this is all over, but…" He shrugged, making a face. "I'm not very good at navigating."

Oh, yeah. That was how he'd gotten into her universe in the first place, wasn't it? She'd almost forgotten. "It's fine, don't worry about it."

The Portal's surface parted, and the cylindrical shape of the Specter Speeder burst through. Danny waved at her through the glass, with Sam behind the wheel and Tucker in the co-pilot seat. Not a moment later, Valerie flew through as well, her hoverboard loud in the silence of the Ghost Zone.

"Looks like we're all here," Phantom declared, loud enough for everyone to hear. "Specter and I will go at the front. Once we're there, you guys will be in charge of clearing the way."

"We know!" Valerie yelled back. "Let's just go and get this over with!"

"I agree with the human hunter!" Plane-like wings folded open from Skulker's back. "Go, whelp, and we'll follow."

Phantom rolled his eyes but did as said, taking lead. Jazz sped after him, forced to keep more of a distance than usual thanks to the Ecto-Skeleton.

Pariah's castle is easy enough to recognize, a floating structure with the land in front of it filled with ghostly skeletons. Jazz lined up next to Phantom when he stopped, the others all coming to a halt in front of them.

"Showtime." Ember cracked her knuckles, then swung her guitar to the front. "Let's go, everybody!"

Ember's dive was followed by the Box Ghost and Lunch Lady, side-by-side. Sidney and Desiree went right after them, Desiree's hands glowing green. Valerie dove next, weaponry charging, and Skulker drew even with her, panels sliding open to reveal his own guns.

Dora shifted into a dragon, roaring, and Jazz could feel the sound reverberating in her bones. Wulf answered it with a howl, and the two plunged towards the ground as well.

Last but not least, the Specter Speeder swept forward, staying high where the ghosts went low. The doors on either side opened, Jack and Maddie leaning out, heavy weaponry in their hands. The built-in guns started charging as well—Danny's work.

She and Phantom stayed behind, watching the skeleton army get eviscerated. Before long, even the larger guards at the door were cleared out—or otherwise drawn away—and Phantom nodded at her. "Road's clear. You got the key?"

"Yep." She patted the pocket of her belt that held it. "You take care of Pariah, and I'll make sure he won't get out again."

"Good. Let's show him what we're made of." Phantom dove before she could answer, so fast that Jazz couldn't even keep up. But that was okay—he was supposed to keep Pariah's attention.

By the time she made it to Pariah's throne room, Phantom had already engaged the ghost in a fight. And, wow. For some reason she'd imagined Pariah to be, y'know, mostly human sized. Not this massive bulking ghost, with twisting horns and a crown made of _literal_ flames. Yikes. She was kind of glad she wasn't the one fighting.

Phantom split himself, three duplicates joining him. All four versions of him shot ecto-blasts at Pariah, and the ghost was pushed back.

"You miserable pest," Pariah grumbled, shaking off the hit. "You think you can stand up to me?"

"Ha!" All of the Phantoms grinned, viciously, but only one continued speaking. "I _know_ I can stand up to you! I am Danny Phantom, half-ghost hero from another dimension. Pariah's Bane!"

That caught the full ghost off-guard, because he blinked. The moment of surprise was enough. Two of the duplicates grabbed Pariah's arms, and the third pushed against his chest.

Pariah seemed to struggle, but the final Phantom shot an ecto-blast at his feet. Pariah stumbled, almost tripping, and the three duplicates _shoved_.

The fourth Phantom shot forward as well, sweeping around the Sarcophagus. After a moment of consideration, Jazz followed him.

Phantom's duplicates gave another shove, and Pariah knocked against the back of the Sarcophagus. The moment he crossed the threshold, Phantom himself pushed against the door, shutting it.

Jazz darted around him, the key already in her hand. It slid into the lock easily, and she twisted it.

It clicked shut.

The three duplicates dissipated instantly, and Phantom sunk to the ground, Ecto-Skeleton and all. It disengaged, the top clicking open, and he cheered weakly. "Whoo, we won!"

"We won!" she cheered back, flying over to him. "Are you okay?"

"I need a nap," he confessed, slumping against her. "But we won!"

* * *

A little later than usual because my Saturday got unexpectedly busy and I still had to make some tweaks to the third scene, but here we are! also plz I swear this is not a cliffhanger, the next chapter is picking up a while after this one. It was just... 5.5k long already, and I really didn't want to add the whole conversation between Phantom and all these sort-of-kinda enemies. shh. Maybe I'll write it as an additional one-shot some day, when I have more time for fic writing than a single day off from school.

Next week, the final chapter! Chapter 16: Identity Crisis


	16. Identity Crisis

"Just stop running!" Jazz growled, underlining the statement with a shot of golden ectoplasm. The ghost they were chasing, deer-like but with dangerously curled antlers, bounded over the blast. It didn't slow.

"We just need to pin it!" Danny focused on the cold of his core, freezing the asphalt in front of the ghost.

It unfurled a pair of feathered wings and leapt over the ice altogether. How had he missed those before?

"Urgh!" Jazz put on a bit more speed, and Danny matched her. They'd been chasing this one ghost for forever. It wasn't particularly dangerous, but that didn't mean it could run free in Amity!

Something hit him in the back of the head, and _hard_. He swore, immediately coming to a dead stop, and grabbed the offending object.

Silver and green, sleek, the shape undeniably like a boomerang. Well, not just _a_ boomerang. _The_ Booo-merang.

But the Fentons hadn't invented it in this dimension, had they? So then where had this one come from…?

"Danny!"

A pair of arms—warm and heavy—wrapped around his neck, dragging him down to the street the rest of the way. He spluttered as another pair joined the first, the Booo-merang clattering on the floor.

"Sam?" he asked, blinking at his friends. "Tucker?"

"Who else?" Tucker asked, laughing. There were tears in his eyes. "We're not alone, anyway."

Danny barely got a moment to consider that before a third pair of arms joined the embrace. A head pressed down on his shoulder, long hair itchy in his neck. "Hey little brother. We missed you."

"I… I missed you too." He twisted his head just far enough to see Jazz. _His_ Jazz. His core hummed loud in his chest, so powerful he was sure everyone else could feel it rumbling. His eyes felt wet. "I missed all of you so much. I was—" His breath caught in his throat, but he pushed through. "I was so afraid that I would never see you guys again."

"Like we'd ever give up on you," Sam muttered into his collarbone. "Come on, Fenton, you know better than that."

"It's just… It's been so long." He sniffled, surreptitiously. "I was just… scared. That you couldn't find me."

"Sooner or later, we would've found you." Jazz ruffled his hair, and Danny couldn't even be annoyed about it. Not really. "We're your family, Danny. We wouldn't give up on you like that."

He knew that. He'd known that all along. But not giving up on him and actually being able to find him were two very different things. "How'd you guys get here, anyway?" he asked, caught somewhere between laughter and tears. "I didn't think you'd be able to come here."

The sound of a throat clearing. Danny looked up, and saw… white fur, an arm of ice and bones, the cool glow of the ice ghosts that had trained him. In the unfrozen arm, the ghost held a rather familiar map.

"Frostbite," he greeted, and now he fell over the edge into laughter, even if his tears didn't quite stop. "Of course. That makes sense!"

He flapped his mostly-free arm, and when Frostbite hesitated, gestured even more impatiently. "This wouldn't have been possible without you, Frostbite. Come on!"

"Well, if you insist, Great One." The ghost landed, soundlessly, and shuffled closer. When he seemed uncertain how to approach the group hug, Sam and Tucker reached out and dragged him the rest of the way.

Frostbite was big enough to wrap his arms around all four of them, one arm soft and the other hard, but neither of them as freezing cold as one might've expected.

"Thank you," Danny said, and he wasn't sure which of them he was talking to. All of them, maybe. "I don't know what I would've done without all of you."

"You wouldn't have had to," Jazz assured him, quietly. "We would've found you, no matter what."

His core rumbled louder. Danny was sure they could all hear it, could all feel it, now. "I was—" Scared. "I was worried," he settled for instead. "That you'd never find me. It's been a while."

"Yeah." Tucker clapped him on the back without unwrapping his arms. "Your parents were worried, dude."

Oh god, his _parents_. How was he going to explain this to them?

"Danny?" Jazz asked, except— it didn't come from next to him.

He jerked, remembering— Whoops. Looked up, right at Specter's frowning golden eyes.

"Jazz." He grinned, sheepishly, ignoring the way everyone's arms tightened around him. "Uh. My family dropped by?"

"I noticed. But maybe you guys should continue this conversation somewhere out of everyone's sight?" She shook the Thermos in her hand. "I got the ghost, by the way, no thanks to you."

"I helped tire it out, that counts." He patted Frostbite's furry arm. "Can you carry Sam and Tucker for me?"

The ghost nodded, uncurling his arms from around them. "It would be my pleasure. Lady Sam, Sir Tucker?"

"I don't know how I feel about those titles," Tucker grumbled, lightheartedly, as he pulled away from the hug pile as well. "I think I finally understand your dislike of Sir Phantom."

"Same." Sam stepped away as well, wrapping her hand around Frostbite's offered arm instead.

Jazz sighed, stepping up next to him. "I can't believe I've been replaced by a little half-ghost version of myself."

"If it helps, she's taught me about the pains of being the oldest sibling." He wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her up carefully. "Jazz—Specter—lead the way?"

"Just a rooftop?" She nodded, rising up higher, and pointed at a nearby building. "We'll be out of sight right up there."

All of them flew up, Specter in the lead, with Frostbite and Danny right behind her. The moment they touched down, Sam and Tucker let go of Frostbite, and Danny put Jazz down again.

"So… they found you?" Specter guessed, eyes wandering over the gathered crowd.

"They found me," Danny confirmed, grinning once again. "Jazz, you already know Sam and Tucker, and this is my Jazz." He gestured at them as he spoke. "And that is Frostbite, he helped them get here."

He turned to face the rest of them, waving at the little Jazz he'd been staying with. "And this is Jazz Specter, this universe's half-ghost. I've been helping her figure stuff out."

"He's been helping me train and stuff," she affirmed, nodding. "Figure out all the half-ghost stuff."

"Must've been a busy two weeks." Tucker nodded at Jazz—Specter. "You look well-trained, anyhow. How long did you have your powers before you met Danny?"

"Uh…" She blinked at him, clearly caught off-guard. Trying to process the same thing that Danny was. "Little over a month, close to two months, I guess. He's been training me for the past four months."

"Time between the worlds is uneven," Frostbite realized.

"It's barely been two weeks for us," Sam tagged on, eyes wide. "But you've been here for four months, Danny?"

"Close to it, I think." He shrugged. "The timelines don't match exactly, I think. I feel like I had my powers for more than a year before I fought Pariah, right?"

Specter hummed thoughtfully. "But the events and the order is the same, right? That's how you were helping me change stuff."

"Well, not everything played out the same, obviously." He reached over to ruffle her purple hair. "And it'll be a lot better for you from here on out, without Vlad on your heels."

"You should just do the same to your Vlad." She nudged him. "He can't possibly be _that_ much worse than mine."

"Yeah, I never told you about Danielle, did I?" He shook his head. "Trust me, Jazz, I know what I'm about."

"Like how you never told your parents about being half-ghost?" She shot him an unimpressed stare.

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I get it. I make bad life decisions. This, I will definitely not miss."

"I can't believe you've been here for four months," his own Jazz commented. "No wonder that you were worried we wouldn't get to you."

"At least you weren't alone." Tucker gestured over at Specter by Danny's side. "And it sounds like you've been able to rely on your parents, too."

"Not… for that long," Jazz admitted, slowly. "I only told them recently. But Danny—mine—he knew for a while longer, so he and his own Sam and Tucker have been helping too. You _have_ taken up their offers of a bed and food, right?"

Danny made a face.

"_Danny_."

Thankfully, he was saved from having to explain himself by the roar of engines.

Valerie slowed to hover over the roof, her posture stiff. "Phantom, Specter… assorted other people."

"Hey Val," he said, before turning to his friends and sister. "Frostbite, this is Valerie, ghost hunter. The rest of you already know her, obviously."

She grumbled, her hoverboard disengaging. "Phantom, you can't just throw out my name like that."

"Why not? These guys are from my universe, not yours." He shrugged. "And they already knew, anyway. Besides Frostbite, but that's just because he didn't know you at all."

"Who is he, anyway?" Specter squinted at the massive ghost that lingered behind Danny's human friends. "You didn't bring him to the fight with Pariah."

"Frostbite is a friend who I didn't meet until way later." Danny floated closer to his friends, gesturing at the ghost. "He's the leader of a group of yeti-like ghosts. They like me because I fought Pariah Dark."

"_Like_ you?" Tucker repeated with a snort. "Danny, buddy, they practically worship you."

"It is true," Frostbite chimed in, _like a traitor_. "The Great One is much beloved among my people for defeating the Ghost King."

Specter shot him a look he couldn't quite decipher, eyes narrowed and mouth thin. "Is that so?"

"That explains the strong ecto-signature that suddenly appeared on my radars, at least." Valerie shook her head, disengaging her weaponry entirely. "I was worried that you guys had gotten ambushed somehow, but I guess that that's not the case."

"An ambush of love, maybe." His Jazz reached out to ruffle his hair. "Right, Danny?"

"Ugh." He turned himself intangible so Jazz could no longer touch him. "Anyway, to get back to the original point. I'm gonna go home, so you guys will have to take up the slack again. Jack and Maddie will help, of course, but you two are the only ones who can chase ghosts down in the sky."

"We'll take care of it," Valerie assured him, voice sturdy and determined. "Don't worry about it, Danny."

"Do all these guys know your secret?" Sam asked, suddenly leaning on his shoulder. "Did you fall out of the habit of secret-keeping, Danny?"

He huffed, rolling his eyes. "No. Well, a bunch of them know, yeah, but it's a long story."

Tucker suddenly appeared on his other shoulder. "Are you sure you can trust Tiny to keep the city safe?"

"Hey!" Valerie snapped back. "Are you really underestimating me because I'm two years younger than you?"

"She has a point, Tuck." Sam flicked him in the nose. "Valerie could destroy you, age difference or not." She paused, narrowing her eyes at Valerie. "Even if she _is_ smaller than I remember."

"Alright, alright, that's enough." Danny shoved both of his friends off of his shoulders. "Yes, I'm sure that Valerie, Jazz, and the Fentons can take care of Amity. The three of us managed alright, too, and Jazz has even less enemies to worry about."

"Yeah, have some trust in us!" Specter puffed herself up, her glow brightening in response. "You guys could take care of it when you were fourteen, so why can't we?"

"It's not about whether you _can_, it's about whether you _should_," Jazz said, crossing her arms. "But I suppose there isn't much we can do about it. Do we need to drop by FentonWorks as well?"

Danny hummed. "I _have_ kind of been living there, these last two weeks or so, so… Yeah, I think that that's a good idea."

"Well, have fun with all that." Valerie summoned her hoverboard again, floating up a little. "I'll finish up patrol for you guys, then."

"Thanks, Val." Jazz smiled at her. "I'll see you at school tomorrow."

"Mh. Bye, Phantom, Phantom's friends and sister." Valerie waved, a short motion similar to a salute. "Nice meeting you folks, I guess."

"Bye, Valerie." He watched her go, then sighed. "Alright, FentonWorks. How are we getting there?"

"I can carry your friends, Great One," Frostbite offered. "As we did just now."

He made a face. "But that's not exactly comfortable, with them having off of your arms."

"I can carry someone, too," Specter protested. "I'm strong enough in my ghost form!"

"I can go with Specter," Jazz offered, stepping forward. "Danny can take Sam, and Frostbite can carry Tucker."

Specter nodded, closing the rest of the distance between her and Danny's own Jazz. "I just need to… uh, figure out how to lift you."

"Here, just like this." Danny gestured at Sam, who rolled her eyes but let him pick her up. "See, Jazz?"

She nodded, replicating it with Jazz. It wasn't quite as easy—Specter wasn't nearly as strong as him, and Jazz a little too tall for her—but it worked well enough. "Got it. We ready?"

Danny turned to look at Frostbite, who had easily picked up Tucker. "Yeah, looks like it. I'll go up front. We'll have to stay high so no one sees us, though."

Everyone made various noises of assent, the two half-ghosts and one full ghost taking off, their human passengers clinging on. They didn't speak much during the flight to FentonWorks, high enough that the clouds prevented people from seeing them—if they looked up at all.

Before long they arrived, all flickering invisible for the dive downwards. In the living room, Phantom became visible, soon followed by Specter and finally Frostbite.

"Um." Human Danny blinked at the sudden crowd. "What's going on here?"

"My entourage has arrived." Danny dropped Sam, carefully. "Aka my friends and sister have arrived from my own universe to come bring me home."

"Oh, that's good news!" Maddie appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, suddenly. "We haven't been having much luck with finding ways to make portals into another dimension. How did you kids manage it?"

"We didn't." Tucker patted Frostbite on the arm, the ghost looking a little unsure. "Frostbite has a ghost artifact which can track down portals in the Ghost Zone to wherever you want. We used the Booo-merang to track down Danny, and then asked the artifact to bring us wherever that was."

Danny felt his core stutter. "Oh, shit. The Booo-merang— Did someone remember to grab it?"

"Yeah." Tucker held up the Booo-merang, which he… apparently had had all the time? Man, all these emotions made it easy to miss stuff, huh? "Come on, man, do you really think that I would abandon a piece of technology just like that?"

Maddie stepped out of the doorway to enter the room properly, Jack right behind her. "Well, I'm glad you managed it, at least. I assume you've come to say goodbye, Phantom?"

"Yeah, I… yeah." He shrugged, a little uneasy. What were you supposed to say to alternate universe versions of your parents who you would never see again? "Um. Thanks for letting me stay here, and stuff."

"Of course, kiddo." Jack managed to make his way over to Danny, wrapping a heavy arm around him. "We've said it before, but you're our son, even if you're not from this universe. Of _course_ we'd take care of you."

"And your own parents must miss you terribly." Maddie joined the two of them, ruffling Danny's hair. "It has been so long… I can't imagine it happening to us."

"Apparently it's barely been two weeks for them." Danny looked at Sam and Tucker, who nodded in confirmation. "But, yeah. I missed them a lot too… No offense to you guys, of course!"

Maddie hummed, stepping away again—and taking Jack with her. "Well, no matter how unfortunate the circumstances… I'm glad that you were here to help Jazz, at least. Thank you for that."

"Yeah, of course." He shrugged, trying for casual and probably missing by a mile. "Family, right?"

"You'd better tell your own parents when you get back, though." Maddie's expression grew stern. "I don't know how you planned on explaining your two week absence, but I want you to tell them. Okay, Danny?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I… Yeah." He swallowed, his eyes feeling watery all of a sudden. "I learned my lesson. I should've told them ages ago."

"Good." Jack looked around, his eyes settling on Danny's own Jazz—she was standing near this universe's Danny, for some reason. "Jazz, sweetie, can you make sure that Danno keeps his promise?"

"Of course. I've been hoping for him to tell our parents, but no pressure, right? Speaking of promises, however…" She nudged other Danny. "I promise _you_ that you'd better treat your little sister right, or I'll come for you, you hear me?"

The other Danny rolled his eyes, grumbling wordlessly.

"Don't underestimate her, dude," Tucker piped up, quirking an eyebrow. "She's been doing martial arts training for years. Seasoned ghost hunter, right there."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it." He huffed, shaking his head. "Just trying to get over the fact that my little sister gets to be older than me."

"Welcome to my life!" Danny laughed, quickly wiping a hand past his eyes to make sure no tears had formed. "I've been living the reverse for the past four months, remember?"

"Can't imagine." Human Danny shook his head, then stepped past Jazz to offer his hand to Danny. "Either way, thank you for taking care of my little sister. And, y'know. For the wake-up call, back then."

"And for not kicking your ass in the process?" Danny grinned, taking the offered hand. "Of course, dude, you would've done the same for me."

Human Danny let go, sticking a thumb up at Frostbite. "Maybe, but I don't have allies like that guy hanging around."

"Who is he, anyway?" Maddie cocked her head, staring at the massive ghost. "I don't remember you mentioning him before?"

"Yes, because I talk about my ghostly allies _so much_." Danny rolled his eyes. "That's Frostbite, he's the leader of the Far Frozen."

"And he had an artifact that allowed you to travel here, right?" Jack narrowed his eyes, crossed his arms. "How does that work? Is it limited use, or…"

"It can be used as much as desired." Frostbite unrolled the Infimap to show it off. "You simply ask it to bring you somewhere, and it will, tracking down natural portals if it must."

"So could he use that more often?" Specter asked, leaning in closer to look at the map. "To come visit?"

Frostbite blinked at her, seemingly surprised. "Yes… I suppose he could. But it is a valuable artifact… I'm not too sure about letting him borrow it so often."

"It doesn't have to be _often_," Specter insisted, turning big golden eyes on Frostbite. "Please?"

"Come on, Frostbite, they've been taking care of him for four months." Sam crossed her arms, staring down the ghost. "Let them have this."

"I'll be careful," Danny promised. "I learned my lesson from last time."

Frostbite's mouth thinned, the ghost's eyes wandering over to Tucker.

"We already lost him to the Zone once. I would honestly feel safer if he had a magical map which can always bring him home." Tucker shrugged, ignoring Danny's glare.

"And he's always welcome here," Jack pitched in. "He has done so much for us, and we've barely had a chance to pay him back for it."

"It would be pretty cruel to separate him from Jazz after they've gotten so close," the other Danny added on, a flat expression on his face. "And now that we know it exists, we might just go looking for it in this dimension, and I can't imagine that _our_ Frostbite would like that very much."

Maddie nodded along. "At the very least, let us have a look at the Infimap. Maybe we can put together an invention that works similarly, and then you won't have to worry about it anymore."

"Well… I suppose that I cannot argue with such sound logic." Frostbite shook his head, but he didn't sound all that disgruntled. "But, Great One, you must promise you will be careful with it."

"Yeah, of course." He took the map when Frostbite handed it to him, then promptly handed it back. "Which is why I want _you_ to hold onto it. I'll drop by the Far Frozen when I want to visit this place."

"Very well." Frostbite grinned down at him, then looked around the room. "Were these all the goodbyes you had to make?"

"One last thing…" Specter tackled Danny in a hug, dragging him close enough to Jack and Maddie for them to hug him as well.

The three released him, other Danny nodding at him as well.

"I think that that was all." Danny nodded at Frostbite, floating closer to put his hand on the map. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz grabbed it as well. "Thank you all so much. Goodbye!"

"Bye!" they all shouted back, as Frostbite told the map to take them back home.

The world around them disappeared into a blur of motion, alternating blue and green skies, until they suddenly stood in snow to their ankles.

"Here we are." Frostbite shook their hands off, rolling up the map. "Great One, you are welcome to visit whenever you want, yes?"

"Yeah, I know." Danny patted Frostbite's arm. "Thanks. For everything."

"It was my pleasure." Frostbite reached out, almost hesitantly, then ruffled Danny's hair. "You four had better return home."

Danny looked around them, spotting the Specter Speeder resting nearby. "Yeah, I guess so. Let's go, guys."

They entered the Speeder, Sam settling in behind the wheel. "Oh my god, please tell me these instruments are wrong."

"Nope, looks like we spent the better part of the evening on this." Tucker groaned as he dropped down in the co-pilot seat. "Hope you guys are ready to crash into bed when we get home."

"I sure am." Danny sat down in one of the extra seats, Jazz taking the one next to him. "I know I promised to tell my parents, but that wait until the morning, right?"

"Right." Jazz sighed, a soft smile on her face. "I'm proud of you, little brother."

"Don't rub it in," he grumbled back, without heat. "I just spent four months as the older sibling, remember?"

"Oh, I know." She grinned down at him.

It was strange, but in the past four months, he'd almost forgotten how much taller than him she was.

They spent the flight back through the Ghost Zone mostly silent, after that. Occasional small talk, but nothing major.

Finally, the Speeder touched down in the lab, Jazz stumbling out first. She stopped so abruptly that Danny walked into her back, peering around her.

"Uh, hey," he said, sheepishly, to the stunned faces of his parents. "So, um. It's a very long story, and I promise I'll tell you guys everything, but in the morning, okay? I really need some sleep."

He stepped past Jazz, allowing Sam and Tucker to climb out of the Speeder as well. Danny paused, turning back to his parents. "And prepare yourselves, because it's _complicated_."

* * *

And so it all ends. The stopping point (mid season 2) might seem a little random, but I wanted to find a good point for Danny to leave where he hadn't just... redone all of canon, but where he still got to make a significant impact. Cutting it off after Reign Storm was a good moment, I thought!  
I also had to find a good balance between time spent in this universe, and how much time passed in Danny's own universe. Personally I usually go with "1 season = 1 school year", which is why Danny is 16 after season 3, but that would've amounted to him being present in Jazz' universe for 1.5 year and that was just... too much. So! 4 months, compared to 2 weeks in his own universe. These numbers might seem random, and that's because they are. :'D

Anyway, in the end Phantom gets to go home, having learned a little from the experience. Specter has learned a lot, and will now have to work really hard to make up for Phantom's absence. And their human siblings get to have their (one-sided) sibling rivalry, too!

This was about it for me, writing-wise! I'm gonna take a little fanfic break, at least for DP stuff, and work on other projects. If you want to keep up with me beyond AO3, you can find me on Tumblr as darknymfa (main) or darks-ink (writing blog), as well as a plethora of other vaguely-related accounts that are linked on those two.


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